Septem Daemonia
by Cottonmouth25
Summary: Captain Squalkus recieves an urgent distress call from an unknown planet, warning him about the "Septem Daemonia". He hastens to gather his friend Megualops and help the victims. But who and what are these mysterious demons? He's about to find out... Inspired by an Adventure published by my friend Gengar114, so a big thanks to you! Rated T for eventual violence.
1. Prologue

**Greetings, and many great hellos!**

**I wrote this about two years ago, as I was inspired by a GA by my good friend Gengar114 of the same name. Now, I've finally decided to publish it.**

**As always, I have a certain few things to go over before we start...**

**One, this is a very short fanfic, and it isn't as good as some of the others I have. However, it is the first fanfiction I've ever written.**

**Two, I do not own SPORE, and I don't own the original idea behind this fanfic.**

**Without further ado - let's begin!**

-.-.-.-.-.

"Citizens of Earth!" I am Captain Squalkus, and I mean you no harm!" I called to the curious and unnerved crowd. I smiled to myself as I stood near my ship on the border of the Earthling city Toronto.

My alien appearance obviously intimidated them. Hunched over and with jointed limbs like an insect, I possessed a back resembling an overgrown garden. Wrapped around my body were powerful wings, and a large, crown-like crest erupted from my head. My true mouth resembled a bird's, but wrapped around it was another, a mouth like a toothed net.

"Please believe me. My ship is damaged and, although not severely, will not work and I cannot fly it for several hours. I beg you to let me stay until then."

An Earth citizen stepped forward. Judging from the authoritic air about him, I guessed he was the leader of this city. "If we let you stay, Squalkus, what will we get in return?" he asked.

At first, my heart sank, for my coins were of no use on Earth. Then, it lifted as I thought of something.

"Gather around, friends. I will tell you a tale of danger and betrayal. I will tell you of the time I met the Septem Daemonia and lived to tell of it."

While the crowd was excited, my eyes glowed and a portal opened in front of me. "Do not be alarmed," I said. "This portal is the method in which my species tell stories. It will take you into a memory, so you may see this for yourselves."

One by one, we walked through. We huddled together in the interior of my spaceship, watching my past self drive it. However, since this was a memory, to him we weren't there at all.

But we were him. As the story progressed, we would share his feelings of fear as he fought the Daemonia, and dread as he walked, knowing that another one lurked around the corner. But right now, we were feeling comfort and familiarity as the past Squalkus flew the vehicle he loved, not knowing, as he was, that the story began here.

-.-.-.-.-.

**Never fear, that was only the prologue. The chapters shall be significantly longer, but the fanfic will still be pretty short in the long term.**

**Stay tuned and please review!**

**TRIVIA:** **This is Squalkus' species, the Tomori - sporepedia#qry=usr-cottonmouth25%7C500513548056%3Asast-500730498516%3Apg-460 (Just type in www. spore. com in front of the link and it should work.)**


	2. Squalkus' Tale

**Now that the prologue's done and over with, time to start this fanfic for good!**

**And if you're reading this, Gengar114, I thank you for giving me the idea of writing this story. Your creating skills are beyond awesome.**

**Let us continue!**

-.-.-.-.-.

It was an ordinary day of exploration. I was flying my favorite cruiser, remembering past adventures.

The day I had fought the Camillan Freek shot through my head. The memory was so vivid I could hear the slicing swipe of my Lightning Sword through the air, the sizzle of burnt flesh, and the blood-curdling roar echoing through the thick Camillan atmosphere. I remembered that victory well, even though it had happened years ago.

However, that was all I had to dwell on... memories. I hadn't had action in weeks, and I was getting very bored indeed. Although I had explored several planets, and seen many aliens I had only seen in books until then, I wanted a grand adventure. I had had several throughout my life. But now, the greatest adventure I had recently was putting a Grennor chick back in its nest.

I flew low over a civilized planet. A warship flew from the planet to greet me. "What is your purpose, stranger?" The low voice crackled through my monitor. I responded, "Just looking for a refuel and a meal." The alien ship signaled for me to follow it. I obliged and plunged through the atmosphere. The ship led me to a refueling station. While my ship rested, I entered the nearby building for a light meal.

When I finished, I started up my cruiser and shot back into space. Sighing heavily, I put my ship on autopilot and headed for my sleeping quarters.

-.-.-.-.-.

I awoke at 3 o'clock in the morning . An urgent beeping was emanating from the control room. Sleepily, I walked to the controls and suddenly, I was wide awake. Flashing across the transmission screen were the words DISTRESS CALL: URGENT. I allowed myself a moment of questioning before deciding that every second that passed could be life or death for the person calling for help. I pressed the "Receive Transmission" button. The transmission was full of static, but the image I got looked like a large clock tower. Finally, the static cleared just enough so that I could hear the speaker.

"Please! If anyone is there, please help! Our planet is being attacked by the Daemonia! They're terrorizing the people, and if they continue, they will destroy the village! Here are the coordinates to our planet. Please hurry and..." Suddenly the line went dead.

I slumped in my seat, stunned. The coordinates to this planet were on the screen now. I wrote them down, then set my course to Bybekhara... my home planet.

I needed supplies quickly. My Plasma Pulser was broken and my health regenerators were low on power. I decided that there was no point going to help when I was unprepared. But the words of the mysterious speaker echoed in my mind. This was certainly a crisis. I thought it was best to hurry on to Bybekhara and get my supplies before this situation got any worse.

-.-.-.-.-.

"You're leaving?" asked my sister, Keerast. It was to be her hatchday tomorrow, and I had promised to be there. However, this urgent mission was more important, so I tried to explain this to her.

"It's not that I want to leave," I assured her. "I have to. There are people that need my help right now. I can't wait until after the party... They'll be dead by morning if I don't leave now."

We loaded the final box of supplies onto my ship. Keerast turned to me, net-mouth open so I could see her face. Her eyes started to water as she said, "Please be careful, Squalkus. I'd rather you arrive late than dead."

I looked away and attached my energy boosters to my Plasma Pulser. "Don't worry, Keerast. Whomever these Daemonia are, they're going to wish I'd never arrived."

My sister smiled slightly, then shook my hand goodbye. I entered into my cruiser and started the engine. As my ship blasted into the outer atmosphere, I caught a glimpse of Keerast waving. I turned back to the controls, smiling to myself. I swore that this would not be the last time I saw her.

-.-.-.-.-.

Three hours later, I needed a refuel. I could not believe that I had forgotten to refuel on Bybekhara. I checked my star map and found a civilized system only 2 parsecs away. I reached the planet and entered the atmosphere just as my ship ran out of fuel. I plunged toward an alien city, wind racing by.

"Mayday! Mayday!" I screamed into my monitor. A familiar voice answered, "We're on our way, Captain." About 2 seconds before I hit the ground, a clawship arrived and snatched me in its magnetic claw. I let out the breath I never knew I was holding.

The clawship dropped me off at a landing platform. A familiar face was waiting to greet me. He was purple-skinned, with long birdlike legs that ended in fearsome talons. Two arms with wickedly sharp claws were outstretched in greeting. His head was covered with helmet-like armor, obscuring his eyes. His toothed maw seemed stuck in a permanent, evil grin, but there was nothing evil in this alien's personality.

"Megualops!" I called his name in greeting. "I haven't seen you since we trained together at the Captain Academy!" His grin grew even broader and his tiny eyes twinkled under his head armor.

"So what brings you plunging into our atmosphere like a Skoracc with a broken wing?" he asked. "Refuel," I said simply. "But I need to hurry." I told Megualops about the mysterious transmission.

"Hmm," he said. "I recall hearing something about the Daemonia a while back. I once met a Captain at a bar who said to me, 'Something's brewing on a distant planet. The Daemonia have awoken.' He told me nothing about them except that there were seven of them."

I considered this for a moment. Seven Daemonia... if they attacked all at once, I'd have little to no hope of victory. But if Megualops came with me, I could at least improve the odds a bit. So I asked. Megualops accepted the offer enthusiastically.

So, after my ship was done refueling, we started to travel to this mysterious planet. I replayed the transmission and listened. Then I replayed it again and studied the image displayed; an old clock tower surrounded by unlit torches.

The speaker's words repeated endlessly in my brain. Every time they repeated, new questions sprang up. "You okay?" asked Megualops, returning to the control room from his washroom break. "You've been awfully quiet ever since we lifted off."

I turned in my seat and said, "No, everything's fine. I'm just... lost in thought." I wasn't lying... at least, not on the "lost in thought" part. In truth, I was growing increasingly worried. One question after another pounded through my mind. Who sent the distress call? Why did they sound so urgent? And who... or what... were the Daemonia? Somehow, I got the impression that our lives depended on finding out...

-.-.-.-.-.

We arrived at the planet 10 o'clock in the morning. Megualops took one look at it through the viewport and shuddered. "I don't like the looks of that place. It looks so... I don't know, evil. No wonder these Daemonia decided to terrorize this planet. Seems like the perfect place for them."

I joined him at the viewport. He was right. Everything about this planet rattled my nerves. Heavy clouds all but covered the planet, leaving only a few spots where we could see through. Looking through these spots, we saw mountains and valleys that looked as inviting as the thought of being trapped in a black hole. Dark brown and green grass covered the rest of the planet, giving it the impression of being home to nasty forest creatures. The star it was orbiting was small and dim.

"It looks like a terrible place," I said quietly. "Nothing but plants, insects... and Daemonia." In all my life, I had never seen a planet this creepy. I'd seen desert and forest worlds, ocean and volcanic worlds, and planets with a combination of these features. But for the first time, I was seeing a planet that made my heart beat faster.

Megualops turned to me, looking grim despite his permanent smile. "We have to go down. I know we're both scared. I know we're going to beam down onto a planet that looks like the definition of hell. But we've faced our fears before! There are people down there that need our help! It's time to step up to the task despite our fears. That is truly what being a Captain is about!"

I blinked in awe. He was right. Megualops had the uncanny ability to motivate even the laziest creature. Using his words alone, he could inspire anyone. Not only that, he was a high-ranking Captain. He was Rank 9, and compared to my lousy Rank 4, he was practically a god. His rank, his words, and his aura of leadership made Megualops the best Captain in his sector.

"Alright," I finally said. "Let's face our fears together. Let's show those Daemonia how to run for their lives." However brave I sounded, inwardly I was still trembling with fear. My crest tingled, sensing extreme evil on the planet below. Of course, Megualops sensed my fear, being the high-ranking leader he was. For a moment, he shivered with his own fear. Then he got a hold on himself and gathered his courage.

"Come on, Squalkus," he encouraged me. "Those Daemonia will be the terrified ones within 10 minutes." I grinned and punched him on the shoulder. Then we stepped into the teleportation chamber and beamed down to the planet.

-.-.-.-.-.

We landed on a small mountain. The top was flat, with cracked earth making up the soil. Looking around, I saw a forest in the distance. Making up that distance was barren land.

"Looks even worse down here than up there," Megualops commented. I had to agree. "We have to find the village the speaker talked about," I told him. "If we don't, the Daemonia will demolish it and kill the citizens." Megualops shivered from the wind. "Or enslave them," he said. We started down the barren mountain.

Some time later we were walking across the dry plain. The only plants we saw were shriveled weeds. The silence kept as we walked on. No birds sang. No frogs croaked. The few insects we saw chirped constantly, but it wasn't as relaxing as listening to the Bybekharan crickets chirp on summer evenings. The only sounds besides the insects were the howling wind and the sound of our footsteps. Suddenly, another sound rang out - a long, high wail that made our blood freeze.

Then we saw them. A pack of creatures perched atop the mountains, silhouetted against the rising moon. Then, the creatures started to make their way down. When they reached the bottom, we saw they were raptor-like creatures with wicked claws and two rows of spines down their backs. There were five, all with two heads. They closed in rapidly, jaws snapping, feet pounding as they ran.

"Who wants to bet we're on the menu?" I asked as I readied my Lightning Sword. Metal claws extended from the plates on Megualops' wrists as he replied, "We might be, but that doesn't mean they want to order." As his blades crackled with energy, he grinned and finished, "Or, if they do, we'll make them change their minds."

As the first one headed for me, I took a mighty swipe and it went flying. The blow didn't do as much damage as I thought, but luckily the electricity infused in the blade did extra damage as it limped off.

Megualops did much better. Already two of the hunters were dead, slain by his energized metal claws. But eight more came from over the mountains and joined the two remaining creatures. "Now would be a good time to leave," I said, taking to the air with strong wingbeats. Megualops streaked off across the land below me, firing at the creatures behind him with his upgraded Plasma Pulser. One was hit and fell, but the others kept running, unfazed.

Then one of the creatures spat a stream of fire straight at me. Taken completely by surprise by this new attack, my wings caught fire and I plummeted, just like last time. I hit the ground like a meteor, stunned and hurt badly. The hunters closed in and I braced myself for the attack.

It didn't happen. Megualops unclipped a Missile Flinger from his energy shield and opened fire. A massive explosion shook the plain and bits of earth flew everywhere. When the smoke cleared, I saw the creatures running away with their tails between their legs (metaphorically speaking).

Megualops helped me up and said. "We've arrived." I looked behind me and saw a wall of dead trees. We had arrived at the forest we had seen from our landing site.

-.-.-.-.-.

**OK, the story so far has been almost entirely of my creation (with the exception of the distress call). Next chapter, we'll get to the actual Adventure that inspired me to make this fanfic.**

**TRIVIA: Megualops as he appears in the novel - /sporepedia#qry=usr-cottonmouth25%7C500513548056%3Asast-5007917217 75%3Apg-80 (Add www. spore. com in front and you should be good.)**


	3. Acedia

**Next chapter, and this time we're really getting to the good stuff - we get to meet one of the Septem Daemonia.**

**Eager to meet him? Then read on!**

-.-.-.-.-.

Our trip throught the dead forest was short but unnerving. The only sounds we heard were the creaking of the trees in the wind and the skitterings of unknown things deeper in the forest.

"This planet is more alive than I first thought," I said. "But none of these creatures are the villagers, or the Daemonia." Megualops looked around, scared. He had grown up near the lush seaweed forests that covered vast distances. All of this stillness and death made his spine crawl.

An anguished scream suddenly rang out. We looked at each other and together said, "The village!" and raced through the forest. I tried to keep up with Megualops, but I was still injured from our fight on the plain, and I collapsed. "Megualops!" I cried. "Slow down!" But he vanished into the thickening mist. I tried to get up. I finally did after a few minutes and walked in the direction Megualops had went. Then, with a loud cracking, the trees in front of me were knocked down and a behemoth stomped into view.

The thing was quadrupedal and deep black with stripes of darkest blue. Its head was low to the ground and covered in dark, spiny armor. Then the armor seemed to split in two as it roared, showing a monsrous maw filled with dripping teeth. Then the mouth closed again and its teeth disappeared under its armor. Despite its freakishness, I knew what it was, from a book entitled "Top 1000 Most Dangerous Things in the Galaxy". I now spoke its name in a horrified whisper... "Soleron".

The Soleron reared up and gave an earsplitting, screeching yowl that made my heart stop momentarily. I now remembered what I had read about it: "The Soleron stands about 60 feet high and is the 13th most dangerous thing in the galaxy. Its roar can drive an untrained being mad with fright. The spines on its head contain a radioactive venom that combusts upon contact with blood, effectively blowing its victim to mere atoms. It absorbs these atoms via its back spines. The Soleron's thick body tissue repels most attacks." I stared at it in sheer terror as I faced a terrible truth... There was absolutely no chance I would survive.

The Soleron charged. I leapt for safety and fel one of its spines graze my leg. I dove into the dead foliage and heard a tremendous crack. The creature had slammed into a tree and was now roaring with anger. I climbed the nearest tree and activated my Plasma Pulsar. I took aim at its eye and fired. Just my luck, it chose that moment to turn its head and the bolt exploded harmlessly on its armor. Its looked up and saw me. It charged once more and I waited for death, frozen with fear.

Suddenly, a missile rocketed out from out of nowhere and exploded against the Soleron's head. The monster went flying, globs of venom flying from its damaged spines. I jumped a split second before it hit my tree and shattered it to shards. An earsplitting screech assaulted the eardrums of creatures for kilometers around.

When I landed, I was right next to the creature's head. That's when I noticed something was off. I remembered the picture of a Soleron from the book; it had red eyes. This one had eyes of dull green. I was just wondering if the eye color varied among Soleron when a voice, well, voiced my sneaking suspicions. "This isn't normal." I turned to see Megualops grinning his characteristic grin, Missile Flinger still smoking.

We had quite a happy reunion. We punched, hugged, slapped hands (I nearly impaled my hand on his deadly claws). Then a sound brought rain on our parade.

The Soleron was getting to its feet. As it rose, venom and shards of its armor rained down upon the forest floor. But instead of finishing us off, it decided we weren't worth the effort of killing and limped off.

Megualops and I looked at each other. "It's heading in the direction of the village," he said. "We should get there first and warn the villagers!" But I shook my head. "No. First of all it will stay in its territory. If it ventures out of it, another Soleron will attack it. Second of all, it had all its life to attack the village. If it or another did, the village would have been totally wiped out millions of years ago." I smiled and continued. "The reason is wrong, but you're still right. The village desperately needs us.

-.-.-.-.-.

It was nearly midnight (on this planet. My cronometer read 11 o'clock in the morning in Bybekharan time). We had gotten out of the forest half an hour ago and were now walking through a narrow valley. We rounded a bend and I suddenly threw out an arm to stop Megualops, who was behind me. "Look!" I exclaimed. The narrow valley suddenly widened. The mountains surrounding us had parted and formed a perfectly circular canyon up ahead. The entrance to the canyon was marked with an iron gate. Past the gate, we saw a massive clock tower. The same clock tower as in the transmission.

"We made it!" Megualops whooped with joy. I examined the gate. "This iron... is probably thousands of years old. But it's very primitive. It's like this village hasn't evolved or discovered anything new at all," I remarked. Megualops offered up a theory, like the scientist he naturally was. "Maybe they didn't WANT to evolve. Maybe they were so set in their culture and traditions that they just kept everything the same."

I nodded. It made perfect sense, and I was about to say so, but suddenly we heard a scream... The same scream we heard in the forest. A second after we had started forward, a male human being slammed into the gate behind us with a sickening thud. I bent down to check on him. But then, I heard a beastly roar and Megualops tapped my bony shoulder. "Not now," he said. "We've got company."

It took a few seconds of waiting before the monster crawled into view. It moved comically, crawling on its belly and feet, and was very large. It was covered in fur, especially on its back, and had a face like a warthog but with many more tusks. The creature's eyes were squinted, like it could barely keep them open, but moved surprisingly quickly toward Megualops and I.

The man behind us suddenly stirred and whispered weakly, "... Acedia... Don't let Acedia get you..." The creature's name was all I needed to know. I darted around him, hoping to confuse him with speed. But his sleepy eyes watched me carefully, and at the right moment he stuck out a limb and I tripped, plowing my face into the pavement. Meanwhile, Megualops fired Plasma Pulses at him, but the relaxed and carefree Acedia seemed not to notice.

I pulled my head out of the ground, readied my Lightning Sword, and charged at the beast. Acedia turned and for an instant, our eyes locked. In that instant, his eyes flashed crimson and I suddenly felt tired. _Why am I moving? _I thought._ I should be lying down, like my body wants me to..._

Megualops saw me fall and screamed my name. But I could hardly hear him. _What use is it to listen to him? _My body felt warm and content, and I wanted nothing more than to take a nice, long nap...

Acedia let out an angry roar as Megualops sliced through his thick skin with his Energy Claws. Megualops ducked under a swipe from the beast's arm and slashed down, opening up a wound in Acedia's chest muscles. The enraged beast shrieked in pain and rampaged toward my unmoving figure. _Why waste energy trying to get away?_ I thought lazily. _Life was such a bother anyway, it would be nice to die..._

Desparate now, Megualops fired a missile toward the stampeding Acedia. It hit him full in the face at Mach 3 and exploded. The pig-like creature flew through the air and hit a stone house. The house crumbled and fell, masonry raining down on him. The doomed monster roared in anguish before being buried alive by the rubble.

The spell that held me in a lazy stupor was broken instantly. I sat up and shook my head to clear it. "What the heck happened?" I askd to no one in particular. "You took a nap," answered a grumpy Megualops. "That was the third missile today that saved your hide."

Now back to my old self, I slapped Megualops on the back and laughed. :Maybe I can find a way to pay you back." I said cheerily. Suddenly the injured human who had been attacked by Acedia approached. "Thank you, dear friends. I was beginning to think that no one had heard our distress call!" he said to us. Megualops extended a clawed hand in greeting. "My name is Captain Megualops, from planet Vulkainus. This is Captain Squalkus, from planet Bybekhara. We are pleased to make your acquaintance."

The man shook his hand warmly. "I am Iapruseb. I am the leader of this village and the one who sent the distress call." The citizens, also human beings, clustered cautiously around us, evidently disturbed by aliens so different from them. Iapruseb took no notice. "Before we can talk about our situation here, we will go to my house. You must be terribly hungry." My stomach growled loudly in agreement.

-.-.-.-.-.

Sitting around a wooden table near a roaring fire, we ate a salad made from strange foods he called lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Or, at least, Iapruseb and I did. Megualops, being entirely carnivorous, had politely refused the offer of salad.

Iapruseb's mood turned grim when the conversation turned to our mission. "Well, you see, friends," he began. "Our village has always been a haven for curses and dark magic. Perhaps that is why no nasty beasts bother us. In any case, this dark magic has never affected us because we are protected by the seven Virtues."

He went on to explain that the Virtues were beings that represented things like Joy and Love, things that made us who we were. "But recently, they have disappeared. We soon found out why when the Septem Daemonia attacked. Septem Daemonia means 'seven demons' in one of our languages, Latin. The represent the seven Sins that contradict our Virtues and make our lives worse."

I mulled this over. I remembered how Acedia had caused me to fall into a drunken stupor. So I asked, "Is laziness a Sin?" Iapruseb answered, "Why yes. Acedia, the beast you killed, was actually the Daemonia representing Sloth."

The realization that Acedia was a Daemonia stunned me and heartened Megualops. "So if that dumb beast was a Daemonia, how hard can the others be to defeat?" he asked around a mouthful of a domestic bird that Iapruseb called a chicken.

The human smiled grimly. "Each Daemonia has imprisoned a Virtue and has slowly begun to absorb their energies. The longer it takes to find and kill one, the more time that Daemonia has to absorb and strengthen itself." That bit of information made me stand up from my seat. "If that's the case, then what are we standing around for?" I asked indignantly. "We've got to stop the remaining Daemonia before they reach full power!" And so, I barreled out the door, a nervous Megualops and an amused Iapruseb cautiously following.

-.-.-.-.-.

Finding the Daemonia turned out to be easier said than done. The village took up the entire circular valley, with a gate at the entrance, the clock tower in the center, and the other buildings built around the edges. Although the village wasn't large - only about twenty to thirty buildings in it, including the tower and the chicken coop - the Daemonia seemed to have basically packed up and left, leaving no trace behind.

The only interesting and mildly suspicious thing I found - other than the natives, who stayed about twenty meters away from me like I was diseased - was the fact that one torch was burning out of the seven total ringing the clock tower. That particular torch had lit just one minute after our fight with Acedia, making it too coincidental to be a coincidence, so to speak. I examined the thing from every angle, even the mystical blue flames themselves, but didn't get anywhere. There were only two things that interested me about the torch, the flames and the carved word on the metal bowl that held the flames: "Diligence".

I frowned. Why would that particular word be carved into a torch? I headed back to Iapruseb's home, hoping he'd be able to provide me with an answer.

Suddenly, I realized that this village was the only one on this planet. Why didn't the humans build more, so they'd be able to call for help if a Soleron or a Daemonia attacked? my mind was filled with questions. But Iapruseb was certain to have the answers.

I found Iapruseb waiting for me with Megualops. He smiled and said, "Giving up? I wuld have thought that a Captain like yourself would have found at least one Daemonia." I grunted and changed the subject. "Why don't you build more villages? Wouldn't it be easier to have more of you on hand if something attacked?"

Iapruseb looked thoughtful. "I never considered that. I mean, beasts don't attack because they're repelled by the black magic, remember? But once the Daemonia are gone, that probably wouldn't be too bad of an idea."

I was about to ask him another question, the one I had earlier about the torches, when suddenly we saw a woman running in panic toward Iapruseb. "Help us! Avarita is attacking the bank!"

-.-.-.-.-.

**For those of you who are wondering, Acedia means Sloth in Latin.**

**Yep, this is the Adventure that got me into Latin and the Deadly Sins. I've loved the language and the legend ever since then. Another thank-you to you, Gengar114.**

**See you soon!**

**TRIVIA: This here is Acedia, made by Gengar114 - /sporepedia#qry=usr-Gengar114%7C500405245770%3Asast-500738349316%3 Apg-420 (Add www. spore. com at the front and it should be good.)**

** And this is a Soleron - /sporepedia#qry=usr-cottonmouth25%7C500513548056%3Asast-5007606169 83%3Apg-220 (Again, add www. spore. com to the front.)**


	4. Avarita

**Yep, the next chapter's up, and that means a new challenge for Megualops and Squalkus.**

**So, let's stop wasting time and get this over with already!**

-.-.-.-.-.

Megualops and I had returned to our ship. We were restocking our ammo and charging our weapons. We finished in a hurry and ran as fast as our legs would allow toward the village. It didn't take long, but since we knew that the Daemonia had just been given more time to grow stronger, that fifteen minutes felt like a week.

And then there was the problem of finding the bank. Sure we could just go through every building in town, but we knew that we couldn't afford to waste any more time. Worse, Iapruseb had mysteriously vanished. That ruled out asking him for directions. After a few minutes of feeling exceedingly lost, Megualops got a genius idea.

"Check your radar," he said to me. "If we can detect forms of life inside the building, we can try and figure out which one is Avarita." It was ingenious. I fired up my radar as he told, but sadly, the only forms of life that showed up were humans and domestic animals.

"It makes no sense," I almost whimpered. "If Avarita is big as Acedia was, how can it hide so well?" The Megualops gave a suggestion. "Maybe, if its dark magic is as powerful as Iapruseb said, maybe that magic blocks it from radar." I looked up. It made perfect sense. "But if radar won't work, and checking every building takes too long, what will we do?"

Megualops's grinning face fell. But then, he noticed something. "Look around, and tell me what you think about the buildings." I looked around, not sure where he was going. "Well, going around the circular canyon, there are two rows of small houses. In the first row, there are five gaps. In the second row, facing those gaps, there are five larger buildings." Then it dawned on me. "Those five buildings aren't houses! One of them is the bank!" I whooped with joy.

-.-.-.-.-.

We split up. Although there were only five buildings to check, we decided that we had wasted enough time fixing our weapons and whatnot and shouldn't waste any more.

It was I who found the bank. Luckily, it was the first building I checked. I signaled Megualops, who had found the mill, and he sprinted over. "Good job, Squalkus. But tell me, how did you figure this out faster than a Captain who's five Ranks higher than you?"

I glared at him through my netlike mouth (That's one thing I didn't mention. My species' eyes are located on our interior mouths). "Beginner's luck," I said sarcastically, with unneeded emphasis on the word "beginner".

I blasted the look with a Plasma Pulse, which melted the lock like an icicle thrown into magma. We slowly opened the door and stepped inside. It was definitely a bank. Two counters ran along the length of the room, with gold bars stretching from the counters to the ceiling. At the end of the room was a safe, twice as big as Megualops and I put together. I blasted it with another Plasma Pulse, but my plan literally backfired. The blast bounced off the door and almost liquified Megualops.

"New plan," muttered Megualops, rubbing the burn on his leg where the Pulse had grazed past him. I ran to the door and knocked. The resulting clang echoed through the dark chamber. "New plan is right. We can't bust through it. It's solid titanium with a uranium coating." I said rather reluctantly (giving up on a plan wasn't in my nature).

I suddenly stopped, crest quivering as it picked up vibrations from the other side of the safe. I put my ear to the door and heard something I hadn't noticed right away - the unmistakable sound of coins being moved around. "Something's in there," I said quietly as Megualops approached the door. "And I'm betting it's a Daemonia." Megualops snorted. "A Daemonia stealing cash? Fifty Sporebucks saying you're way off."

I started checking behind the counter on my left. "We've got to find a key. Otherwise the Daemonia hiding in here will get up to full power before we can get to it." Megualops started checking the pther counter in response to my statement. After a long but thorough search, I finally found a large key stuffed at the back of and old drawer. "Got it!" I called quietly to Megualops. I tossed it to him and he went over to the safe door. He successfully unlocked it and pulled hard. The door opened with a loud, echoing creak and I stepped over to it. I took one look inside and whispered, "Megualops, you owe me fifty Sporebucks."

Inside was a creature digging through an immense pile of coins and gems. It was as tall as Acedia was long, with dark, smooth skin that looked hideous. It was horribly hunch-backedm and hairs sprouted out of its skin here and there. Then it turned, revealing a goblin-like face with fangs as long as my first two finger joints. It smiled chillingly, revealing more teeth. Even Megualops, who had seen many ugly things, had to gasp at its hideousness. I personally thought it looked ugly enough to make a deep-sea angler fish look positively beautiful.

Seeing how small we were, the creature turned back and continued rooting through its pile of of gold, obviously searching for something. I quietly powered up one of my new weapons - a Frost Band. It looked like two simple golden bracelets connected by two rods of silver, but those litle gems encircling them held a darker secret.

From them, a wave of ice and snow shot out, instantly freezing the Daemonia solid. I pushed the hideous sculpture out of the way and started digging through the precious pile. "What on Vulkainus are you doing?" demanded Megualops. I replied, "Whatever Avarita wants from here, it can't be good. So I'm thinking, why not get it first and keep it away from him?"

I turned back to the mountain of valuables and fished out a crystal, glowing a poisonous green. "Knarite," I said simply. "I felt its energy as soon as the safe opened." Knarite was an extremely valuable mineral, often used to restore energy and strengthen anything that touched it. Megualops said, "Of course! It wants the Knarite's energy to add to its own! If it gets that energy plus the energy form its imprisoned Virtue, it'll be unstoppable!"

Just because Avarita was frozen, it didn't mean that he couldn't see what was going on. As he saw his crystal being taken away, he smashed through the ice and angrily swiped with his clawed hand. I dodged and attached the Knarite to my Plasma Pulsar, which happened to be connected to my other weapons. They all started humming with a new energy. I blasted Avarita with a massive Pulse that exploded with a blinding flash of light. In this enclosed space, the energy threw Megualops and I against the wall. When the light faded, Avarita had been BADLY hurt and the roof of the bank had been blown completely off.

I readied my Lightning Sword, which was glowing with the power of the Knarite. When I said "connected" earlier, I meant via a wireless signal. Therefore, the strengthened Pulsar shared its new power with my other weapons. I struck with my Lightning Sword, sending massive lightning bolts loudly crackling through Avarita's body. It screamed in anger and pain. Despite the Knarite's energy, the weapon hadn't killed Avarita yet.

That's when Avarita's eyes started glowing. Megualops suddenly turned on me and shouted, "Give me the Knarite! I want that power for myself!" I stepped back, saying, "Easy now! Since when were you so greedy?" It hit me all of a sudden. I remembered Acedia had affected me the same way, inflicting me with laziness. Then later I learned that he was the Daemonia for Sloth.

I started thinking fast. Avarita wanted the Knarite's power plus the Virtue's. Also, I had discovered it in a safe filled with valuables. Furthermore, it had inflicted Megualops with greed. I realized then that Avarita was the Daemonia that represented Greed.

Then Megualops's Energy Claw hit me squarely in the stomach. I screeched as only a Tomori could (another thing I hadn't mentioned. My species is called the Tomori), the sound disabling Megualops for a few seconds. A well placed, enhanced Plasma Pulse sent him flying out the door and into the far wall, knocking him out. Then, it was just me and Avarita.

The Daemonia's claw hit me in the face, knocking me to the floor. A plan hit me at the same time (although not as hard). I used my Frost Band to cover the floor and walls with thick ice. Then, as the air turned misty in the safe, I used my other weapon, a Swarm Caller, to summon an entire swarm of Bybekharan hornets via a wormhole. The swarm flew at Avarita, driving him mad with stinging pain. Suddenly, his foot slipped on the ice and he landed with a back-breaking thud. I winced at the sound of his spine snapping and fired an enormous Pulse. The blast was so big, it melted all the ice, vaporized the hornets, and turned Avarita to dust.

"There,that's one save down," I said to Megualops. "Two more and we're even." We had walked out of the bank after hiding the Knarite again and locking it in the safe. "Not really," said Megualops, rubbing his head armor. "A save that includes knocking someone across the room with a Plasma Pulse doesn't qualify." I reminded him, "And if I didn't, you'd still be fighting with me over that stupid crystal." Megualops turned to me and said, "Stupid crystal? You certainly didn't think so when you let fly with all of those Pulses." But he was grinning wider than normal.

Iapruseb seemed to have returned from whatever he was doing. "Amazing! Avarita's finished! How long did it take you, two or three minutes? Incredible!" His enthusiasm was cheering us up heartily. We told him all about it. "Sorry about the Knarite," I said guiltily. "Some of the energy's gone." Iapruseb waved my apology off. "Better used by you than Avarita. Which reminds me. Look at our torches!"

I looked. Two torches were now burning with mystic flames. The newly lit one, like the other, had a word carved into the metal bowl holding the fire: "Patience". Seeing it reminded me of my unasked question. "Iapruseb, why are these words carved into the torches? And why do they light when we defeat a Daemonia?"

Iapruseb turned to me. "Each torch represents a Virtue. Since each Daemonia imprisoned the Virtue most opposite them, every time you defeat a Daemonia, the Virtue is freed and its energy flows to the torch."

I thought about that for a bit. It definitely made snese. Then suddenly, I was struck by a wave of sleepiness. It was so intense and so sudden, I dropped like a rock and was asleep before I hit the pavement. Megualops looked panicked. "What's wrong? Squalkus! SQUALKUS!" Iapruseb put a gentle but restraining hand on his shoulder. "He's only tired. From what you told me at my house, it must have been since his nighttime since he last awoke." (By "his nighttime", he meant Bybekharan time.) Megualops carried me to Iapruseb's room and fell asleep after 10 minutes of sitting by my bed.

-.-.-.-.-.

I awoke to an uneasy feeling. Megualops was on the floor, snoring loudly. Iapruseb was nowhere to be seen. I checked my cronometer. Nine o'clock in the morning in Bybekharan time. I had slept nearly 24 hours.

I got up from the bed and walked outside. All the citizens were asleep. No one had been watching through the window then, so my feeling of unease hadn't arisen from being watched. What was it then? _Probably all the black magic around_, I thought. But then again, why would it only wake me up twenty-two hours after I fell asleep? It was all such a mystery.

Suddenly, a dark shape darted out from behind a building and leapt behind another. Of course I saw the movement, or I wouldn't have mentioned it. As the shape slid toward another building, I fired a blast from my Frost Band. I stalked toward the frozen figure, Pulsar at the ready. I reached out and pulled the thing out of the shadows. It was... ... ... one of those two-headed raptor things that I had almost gotten killed by on the silent plain. I set my Pulsar on its highest setting, planning to vaporize the beast, when a small voice said uncertainly, "Um... Captain?"

I whipped around and fired by reflex. Luckily, I missed and the shot vaporized a small statue. Why did I say "luckily"? Well, the speaker was nothing more than a small human boy. I recovered from my shock and said, "Sorry, kid. You shouldn't sneak up on a space Captain." The boy blushed. "Sorry. I only wanted to give you something." He pulled out a small bracelet made of straw. Attached to it was a small gem fragment. "Isn't that... Xiliite?" I asked when I saw it. The boy shrugged. "I just thought it was a pretty rock. I found a bunch in the valley and decided to give them to people I'm grateful to." I was amazed. I took the bracelet and examined it. "But Xiliite is an extremely rare and powerful good luck charm. What on Bybekhara did I do to deserve this?" The boy looked up at me with genuine respect. "You defeated Avarita. Thanks to you, we still have money and my mum can buy food." He ran off before I could say thank you.

As I walked back to Iapruseb's house, I thought back to my uneasy feeling. It was probably the thing that my sister called the "Danger Alert". I was the only Tomori I knew of that could detect grave danger. If I hand't killed that creature and the boy had been traveling to Iapruseb's house, I wouldn't have a Xiliite fragment in my hand now.

-.-.-.-.-.

Megualops examined the fragment I had brought back with me. I had returned to the house and found Megualops slowly awakening. I had told him what had happened and now he said, "Well, better humor the kid and wear the superstitious nonsense. Either that, or we could auction that fragment for a million Sporebucks and get at least twice that."

I shrugged and pocketed it. Personally, I thought that we might need all the luck we could get on this mission.

Suddenly, Iapruseb entered, sweaty, out of breath, and looking panicked. "Squalkus, Megualops, we *gasp* need your help," he managed to say. Megualops and I glanced at each other. "What happened?" we asked simultaneously. Iapruseb, after much gasping, whispered, "Luxuria... Luxuria has broken into our jail!"

-.-.-.-.-.

**Avarita is the Latin word for Greed.**

**The next chapter will be up very soon, so please R+R in the meantime!**

**TRIVIA: Here's Avarita - /sporepedia#qry=usr-Gengar114%7C500405245770%3Asast-500738349309%3 Apg-440 (As usual, the link should work if you put www. spore. com at the beginning.**


	5. Luxuria

**Next chapter - just what you've all been waiting for, readers.**

-.-.-.-.-.

Megualops and I were busy strategizing. It had been almost 24 hours since Avarita had been dealt with, so it was obvious that this Luxuria had gotten a lot more time to abosrb the powers of its imprisoned Virtue. I wanted to head out right now and deny it ANY more time to charge power. But Megualops argued that it didn't pay to rush toward a battle without a plan. He won that argument claws down.

Iapruseb had left to make sure anyone had been hurt during the break-in. He had left us some important facts in the meantime; Luxuria represented the Sin of Lust, was a master of manipulation, DIDN'T have the same power as Acedia and Avarita (the one where their eyes flashed and you dropped from either laziness or greed), and was FEMALE.

"How can you manipulate someone without using that eye power?" I asked the expert, Megualops, while we were planning. "Simple. Bribe them, threaten them, play on their emotions... I'm guessing that this Daemonia will use the latter," he answered. "What, females are masters at doing that, or are just too cowardly to bribe or threaten?" I jeered. Why did most people think that females didn't take the direct approach? My cousin Seer once annhilated me in the Bybekharan Wrestling Competition in ten seconds flat, and, yes, she was female.

"I'm not sexist," retorted Megualops. "I just have a feeling about it." Megualops indeed had a sixth sense about these feelings. Give him a few facts about someone and he could accurately guess the personality, strengths, or weaknesses of something as simple as an insect.

"Okay, let's say you're right," I said. "Luxuria is good at manipulating emotionsm and she just broke into a jail. What does that tell us?" Megualops looked thoughtful. "I don't know... yet. We can investigate the jail, look for a few clues, and hopefully guess Luxuria's intentions." So it was settled. We kept our Plasma Pulsars on a low setting, so they wouldn't severely damage anything that snuck up on us, unintentionally or otherwise. Then, steeling our courage, we set out for the job.

-.-.-.-.-.

It was completely deserted. Some cells looked like they hadn't been used in years. Others showed signs of recent habitation, such as fresh scratches on the walls and trays of half-eaten food. The funny thing about these recently inhabited cells was that the doors were all open, as if the inmates had simultaneously broken out. I secretly thought that that was the case.

Megualops had left to investigate the rest of the jail while I checked the cells. He came back rather quickly; the rest of the jail seemed to be either unimportant or just small in area. "The door to the weapon room was open," he said. "You know, the room where they keep all of the confiscated weapons. Well, the weapons are all gone. My guess is that the people who broke out snatched back what was rightfully theirs."

That was perfectly sensible. But I had doubts. "Where did they go, then? We would have noticed a whole bunch of criminals escaping." Megualops thought. "There was a trapdoor near the end of the hallway. I was about to check it out when I noticed the open door." I nodded. "We'll check that out then. Lead on, Megualops."

He led me into a deserted hall. He then bent down and stuck his hand into a large crack in the floor. He pulled upward and a trapdoor lifted up from the stone. "It was completely invisible," I gasped. "How on Bybekhara did you find it?" Megualops's grin grew wider. "Practice, Squalkus. Lots and lots of practice." He led me down into a dark tunnel. I closed the trapdoor behind me and the tunnel became darker.

-.-.-.-.-.

The tunnel wasn't that dark, actually. Some of our equipment had parts that gave off a glow. I made sure that my health regenerators were working properly. Megualops attached energy boosters to his Energy Claws, which would allow them to recharge faster. Despite the glow, I stuck my hand out to feel the wall, just in case this tunnel had branching paths.

We finally came to the end fifteen minutes later. At the end, there was a metal door. We readied our weapons, then stepped through. We then gasped in shock.

It was like a massive arena. And island ringed by a moat of lava dominated the large cavern. The island rose high out of the lava, so if you fell, there would be no climbing out. The island was connected to the tunnel we just came through by a steel walkway. On the island, six shady characters in jail stripes were engaged in mock battle.

One of them turned and shouted in surprise. The people all headed for us, flails swinging, swords flashing, guns blasting. I readied for battle, in one hand my Lightning Sword, in the other a Force Shield. Megualops did the same with his new Poison Blade, glowing a sickly purple.

The bullets exploded when they hit the force field generated by my shield. Megualops started sparring with a sword carrier. It didn't take long, as his purple blade quickly dissolved the enemy's. He then slashed, creating a wound in the outlaw's arm. The poison carried in the blade then started seeping through the cut and into his bloodstream.

The battle didn't take long. Half the foe were electrocuted, the other half were left gasping for breath as the poison did its work. Megualops turned to me and asked, "Why were they down here training? Why didn't they attack the town?" Suddenly, I connected everything together - Luxuria at the jail, the escaped criminals, the arena...

"Luxuria must have persuaded them to join her!" I gasped. "She must have played on their rage and vengeance and trained them here in this secret cave!" Megualops gasped also. At first I thought it was because of my realization. It wasn't often that I figured things out before Megualops did. I was feeling kind of proud of myself when Megualops pointed behind me. I turned. Standing where fighting men had stood just five minutes ago, was a Daemonia.

Luxuria looked remarkably like a human woman, but much taller, about a foot taller than Avarita. She also had bright pink skin and stood on tiptoe. Sprouting from her back were little ribbed wings, like a dragon's, and an extremely long tail extended at least twenty feet behind her.

We readied for battle. Iapruseb had said that Luxuria couldn't control us like the other two Daemonia could, but we had no doubt that she had other abilities to make up for that. We also knew that she had had much longer to absorb her Virtue's powers that Acedia and Avarita did. So we did the sensible thing and spread out on either side of her to make it hard to hit us.

Unluckily, she guessed our plan. Her tail suddenly whipped out from out of nowhere and lashed me, then kept going around her and lashed Megualops on the other side of her. Both of us were sent sprawling from the blows.

She laughed at the sight, a high-pitched, unnerving sound. Strangely, her laughter brought us to our feet angrily. Megualops charged, Poison Blade held aloft, yelling a battle cry as he went. Luxuria effortlessly batted him away with her tail, sending him into the dirt. Now her full attention was on the unmoving figure at her feet. I was free to attack, as long as I moved quietly.

I beat my wings furiously. They were still injured from the battle on the plains, but had healed slightly. My heart soared as I lifted five, ten, fifteen feet into the air. At thirty feet I folded my wings and plummeted. I plunged right past Luxuria, but as I went I slashed her with my Lightning Sword. She screamed in pain and lashed out with her tail. The bladed tip caught me on the wing and ripped through the delicate membrane. I screeched and hit the ground hard, a great tear in my wing making the pain worse.

Luxuria looked down at me groaning in pain. She brought her tail down hard, prepared to pummel me into the earth with it. But it was at that time that Megualops got to his feet. There was no time for him to use a weapon. He acted purely on instinct. Megualops charged a few paces, then leapt as high and far as his legs would carry him, jaws open wide. When he reached the falling appendage, he bit down hard.

Luxuria screeched even longer and louder than I had. Her tail whipped around in agony, Megualops somehow hanging on despite his growing dizziness. However, the thrashing tail was hitting the ground repeatedly as it went. Eventually, Megualops would hit the ground as well.

That happened after another minute. Miraculously, he hit headfirst, his head armor absorbing most of the damage he recieved. Still, it was quite an impact. Luxuria's tail had slammed him into the dirt at one hundred miles an hour, creating an impact crater twice his size. Even for someone with armor like Megualops's, the world went black.

The Daemonia then turned to me, her eyes blazing with rage. Her body suddenly shone bright yellow as she charged up for an attack. Weak with pain and exhaustion as I was, I wouldn't be able to dodge it. Worse still, there was no one to save me.

I cast my eyes to the cave ceiling, hoping that maybe someone would come down here to help Megualops escape. Just as I realized that I was making a pointless wish, I got an idea, a dangerous, suicidal idea. But we were doomed anyway, and this way, Luxuria would fall as well. I raised my Plasma Pulsar to the ceiling. Luxuria looked at me with confusion. Nonetheless, she finished charging and fired a huge shockwave that rapidly swept toward me and Megualops, who was just getting to his feet on the other side of the arena. Just before the energy wave hit me, I fired.

The Pulse and the shockwave hit at the same time, slamming into the ceiling and me, respectively. I went flying toward the door. I fired at the door, disintegrating it and allowing me to pass into the tunnel beyond.

Back in the cavern, the ceiling had started to crack. Megualops had seen the energy wave sweeping toward him. He activated his secret weapon - a Flight Pack. Flames shot out of it as he rocketed over the wave, dodged Luxuria's tail, and zoomed for the open doorway. He made it just as the cave ceiling started to collapse.

Luxuria heard the ominous crack of rock fracturing. She looked up and saw half the ceiling falling toward her. She tried to bat the rocks away, but they kept on coming. Just before she was buried by the incoming rubble, she let out a scream of rage and terror that chilled the blood of anyone who happened to hear it.

-.-.-.-.-.

The entrance to the cavern was blocked and the tunnel itself was filled with dust. Megualops and I staggered through, weak and gasping for air. There wasn't much light, as most of our equipment was broken. "Thank the Maker that I brought plenty of supplies," I managed to say.

Finally, we reached the trapdoor. We crawled out, sucking in great amounts of air. We stumbled toward the door, looking forward to getting out of this pesthole. When we walked out into the town, all the citizens gasped horror.

Megualops was badly battered, and feeling ill from his experience holding onto Luxuria's tail. His head armor was badly cracked, but healing quickly. As for me, my one wing was ripped and bleeding, and both were still burned. I was also battered, not as badly as Megualops was, but still pretty badly. I was also healing quickly (thanks to my health regenerators), but my injured wing trailing on the ground behind me would still take time.

Iapruseb still wasn't home. I guessed he was running some more errands outside of town. We left a note on his desk explaining that we had gone back to my cruiser for medical supplies and weapons, and where to find us, and limped out of town. I hoped another Daemonia wouldn't strike while we were away - in our present condition, we wouldn't last ten seconds in a battle.

Amazingly, no beasts attacked us while we made out way back to my ship. I didn't bother questioning it, and even Megualops was too exhausted to guess.

When we reached my cruiser, the first thing we did was head for the regeneration chamber. We took a nap while the machines pumped special chemicals into the air to heal our wounds. We weren't sleeping for very long when most of our wounds healed, but when we woke up my wing was still damaged and Megualops's head armor was still cracked. "Thank goodness your wing and my head look much better." Megualops yawned as we turned off the machine and stepped into my walk-in fridge to grab a meal. "Yeah," I said, sinking my outer teeth into a packet of sausages (my inner mouth didn't have teeth, so could only eat soft, chewed up foods). "But remember, there are still four Daemonia out there, charging power." Megualops shuddered and said, "Don't say that, please. My ego still needs to recover. We could hardly beat Luxuria, and that was because she had almost two days to charge. What if we can't beat the next one?" He started taking out his anxiety on a bunch of steaks.

We walked out of the storage with our food. I was worried, perhaps more so Megualops. He never worried, he always had a strategy and motivation so great it flowed into those around him. If he was worried... Then I didn't want to think about it.

We started repairing our equipment, replacing the ones that were broken beyond repair. In the end, I got my Plasma Pulsar, Lightning Sword, Frost Band, a new Swarm Caller, health regenerators, Force Shield, and a new Stealth Helmet. Megualops got his Poison Blade, Plasma Pulsar, a new Missile Flinger, Energy Claws, energy boosters, Flight Pack, and a new Damage Recycler. With our new weapons and equipment, we started out the exit hatch toward the town.

We didn't get far. Halfway down the mountain, we saw a lone figure sprinting for the ship. He was almost to the mountain when a group of creature popped up from the ground beneath him. They looked like giant mushrooms, about 4 feet in height and with purple and green caps about 2 feet wide. They had small, maliciously glowing eyes and long arms with 3-inch long claws. They moved on five thick, root-like feet. The mushroom creatures started shaking a thick, poisonous dust at the human. He ran a few paces, stumbled, and fell.

We sprinted down the mountain at top speed as the monsters started to tear into their victim. Megualops charged forward, breath held, into the poisonous fog and dragged the human away from the mushrooms. Angry now, their eyes changed color from blue to bright red as they shot lumps of spores at Megualops. I blasted the lumps with my Frost Band, freezing them and causing them to drop to the ground. Then, I fired a Plasma Pulse at them as they huddled, frightened, in the poisonous cloud.

Big mistake. The plasma reacted with the cloud, causing a large explosion. The mushrooms fell, dead, while Megualops and I shielded the human victim and took some damage. We were lucky. My Force Shield and Megualops's Damage Recycler blocked or absorbed most of the force. But the victim was already dead from a wound on his neck. One of the lumps of spores had hit him, causing him to turn the color of rotting compost. Already, small toadstools were growing on the spot where the spores had hit. I looked closer and saw that the baby mushrooms had tiny, glowing blue eyes.

Suddenly, Megualops tapped me on the shoulder (with his knuckle - he didn't want to injure me with his claws) and pointed at something in the distance. It was a human, that much I could tell, until it came closer - it was Iapruseb! It was clear that he had something to tell us.

"Friends! I got your note and came as fast as I could. My friend wanted to come, too, and as you can see, he made a meal of himself," he said when we met up. But I had a feeling that there was something else. He said this a second after: "That wasn't the important news... Another Daemonia has attacked."

-.-.-.-.-.

**Yippee, yet another demon to slay. Who will it be this time? We've encountered Sloth, Greed, and Lust so far... four more to go.**

**Review and stay tuned, please!**

**TRIVIA: This is Luxuria - /sporepedia#qry=usr-Gengar114%7C500405245770%3Asast-500738349314%3 Apg-420 (Type in www. spore. com before that and the link should work.)**


	6. Gula

**Yep, new chapter, new Daemonia.**

**I really have nothing else to say but watch out - this is the Captains' closest shave with death so far.**

-.-.-.-.-.

Iapruseb filled us in on the monster as we made our way back to the town. "Well," he started. "I can only tell you what I know, because only the priest knows everything about the Daemonia. And as you saw, the Orlundus have... gotten to him."

I fired a Frost Wave at a two-headed raptor (called a Gromm, Iapruseb said) who tried attacking. "That's okay," I told the human. "What you know is most likely valuable to our quest." He began his description: "The Daemonia at large is known as Gula. She is unlike all the other Daemonia in the fact that she constantly leaves and enters the village. She crawls over the mountains and into our valley, causes massive destruction, and crawls out again.

"Another fact - Gula represents the Sin of Gluttony. Every time she enters our village she eats as much as she can. Luckily for us, she has a relatively small stomach, so she can only consume about half a building every trip. Be careful though - Gula will eat absolutely anything. Her stomach is strong, we've tried feeding her rotten scraps in the hope she'd get sick. All it did was delay the loss of our city gate..."

We walked the rest of the way in silence. I pondered Iapruseb's words, and no doubt Megualops was as well. "Does Gula have any special powers?" he asked suddenly. "Well, yes," answered Iapruseb. "Her claws can glow with energy and inflict massive damage, and she can also spit out that same energy for a long-range attack."

I decided to ask Iapruseb something else. "How long does it take a Daemonia to charge to full power?" "Very long," he said. "It takes them over a day to charge a significant amount."

We had reached the city gate. People were all over, carrying buckets of water and other objects, shouting and panicking. I wondered what had happened when I noticed... Several buildings were ablaze. The air was filled with the sounds of the fire and the snapping wood. The bank was in the worst shape of all. The flames consuming it were massive, and people were running in and out, carrying bags of coins and jewels in an effort to save the money that would buy them food and shelter. Then I remembered the Knarite that was hidden in the middle of the pile of valuables in the giant safe. To lose it would be a terrible waste, rare and valuable as it was.

Now, I am not from a Trading-based empire. The Traders suffer from a philosophy that revolves around money. Nor do I suffer from the Sin of Greed. I simply realized that the Knarite was buried in there for a reason and that the people had no reason to lose it. So, I ran into the burning building to help the villagers recover their valuables. When I got to the safe I grabbed handfuls of coins and dropped them into the humans' bags. As I dropped my fifth handful, I spotted the Knarite crystal poking out from the pile. I grabbed it along with a few coins when the roof started to cave in.

I hustled the people along as fast as I could. Burning timber often dropped into my path, but I jumped aside each time. The last human was out of the bank. That left me. I dove for the exit just as a massive burning log started to fall in front of the door.

I made it by half a hair. Still holding the Knarite, I gave it to Iapruseb, who was waiting for me along with a dismayed Megualops. "Why on Vulkainus would you risk your miserable skin for a freaking CRYSTAL?!" he demanded to me. I shrugged, not to appear casual, but because I really didn't know. Something inside me wanted to save that crystal, and that something had happened to be stronger than my common sense. It was a mystery. But I shook my head. There were more important matters to attend to.

-.-.-.-.-.

It was a success, dousing the flames. Megualops used his Missile Flinger to blast rock and dust off of the canyon walls, smothering the fire from some buildings. The night was now completely dark because it was currently the time of a new moon. The only light came from three mystical torches around the clock tower, the ones marked "Diligence", "Charity", and a new one, "Chastity". The blue flames raised my spirits. Whether it was the power of the Virtues infused withing the flames or the realization that there were only four more Daemonia left to destroy, I didn't know. But my spirits were raised, and that was what mattered.

Megualops was off repairing some of the houses. It was my job to make sure that everyone returned to their homes safely. As I escorted a family toward their home, the same feeling of unease that I had felt earlier in Iapruseb's house took hold of me. Something bad was going to happen, I kust knew it.

That something happened surprisingly soon. A scream came from the other side of the village. The alarm sounded and people raced for home. Those whose homes had burned stood paralyzed with fear, pointing up at the mountains. I followed the direction they were pointing in and saw something that sent shivers down my spine. The stars closest to the peak of that particular mountain were gone, as if... As if something had blotted them out.

A low, warbling, gurgling growl reached my ears. The terrified people snapped out of their paralysis and raced for cover. The stars returned, as if the creature had left. Suddenly, I realized that was exactly what had happened - the creature was climbing down the canyon wall and into the village. I shouted, "It's entered the village! RUN!" I saw the vague outline of the mysterious monster as it crawled toward a large house and opened up what I realized was a gigantic mouth.

An immense cracking sound occured as the creature bit into the building. There was a scream and panicked rustlings inside the house as the family inside rushed to escape. The four humans raced out into the night, but a second later, the maw of the beast swooped down upon them, swallowing them and the ground on which they stood whole. As it chewed, the beast turned back toward the house. A fiery bolt suddenly streaked through the night and smashed into it, exploding. The creature reared up with a shriek that ripped through the night. A blue light suddenly flew from the creature, striking its attacker and sending him flying. The last thing I saw before Megualops slammed into me was the silhouette of the monster as it clambered back up the mountains and out of sight.

Megualops got off of me painfully. "What in the name of the Tomori was THAT?" I gasped. The shadowy figure shook his armored head in disbelief. "Friend," he said. "I could be wrong, but I think we got our first glmpse of the Daemonia Gula."

-.-.-.-.-.

Megualops and I started planning our strategy. "You saw that thing after you hit it with that missile. Can't we just overwhelm it with some more?" I asked. Megualops said no. "I have limited ammo. We might need it with the other three."

An hour later we were still strategizing. We couldn't somehow give her indigestion, because Iapruseb said she had a strong stomach. We couldn't strike from the near-pitch darkness - Gula had located the fleeing humans in an instant. I came up with a good idea, that we should put turrets around the mountaintops and lure Gula into their firing range. Megualops thought a bit before agreeing. "It's the best plan we've had so far," he admitted. "But don't be surprised if it fails."

We went back to my ship for the supplies. When we got back twenty minutes later, we set up the eight turrets around the top of the canyon. We had just finished connecting them to a control box that Megualops hid behind a building, when the alarm sounded and we heard Gula's low, gurgling growl.

We scrambled to our stations. Megualops's job was to distract the beast, and mine was to operate the controls. Thank goodness the targeting system saw in infrared - it was so dark I could barely see my hand in front of my face. I made sure all of the turrets were aimed at the big red blotch on the screen that was Gula. She had an odd shape, like a flower bulb with legs. Megualops blasted her with a weak Plasma Pulse to make sure her full attention was on him. He then blasted a Pulse to the sky - that was the signal to fire. I pressed the big red button that said "All Turrets Fire".

Massive energy bolts flew from all eight turrets at Gula. Megualops dove behind a building before he was blasted to smithereens. All eight struck the Daemonia dead-on and a massive explosion ripped the ground apart (and, hopefully, Gula as well). We waited several tense seconds for the smoke to clear. Although, admittedly, I could hardly see the smoke. With no movement and complete silence for the next few seconds, I began to relax.

Then, suddenly, the smoke dissipated as the relatively unharmed Gula swiped it away with her two front legs. She shrieked in fury and angrily started tearing a building apart, consuming every scrap of wood that fell. A stunned Megualops made his way to the control box, where I was staring at the red-and-orange image of Gula, numb with shock. I voiced my worries without even realizing that Megualops was there. "Has Gula absorbed so much energy that the turrets don't harm her?" Megualops was silent, realizing that perhaps this was the case, and that she couldn't be stopped.

The Iapruseb appeared. From what I could make out of his face in the blackness, he looked very angry with himself. "This is my fault," he whispered. "I completely forgot to tell you about Gula's last ability. If an attack were to do massive damage to her, she can divert most of that damage into another dimension. This takes so much energy that only the strongest and most damaging attacks are absorbed."

I thought a bit. "If we can contain Gula and starve her, then she won't have enough energy to divert our attacks.," I mused aloud. Iapruseb shook his head. "It is impossible to starve Gula. If you try to contain her in a metal box, she will eat through. And even if you could contain her there, she'd eat any projectile you threw at her without any harm."

It was Megualops that came up with the idea. "Have you ever been attacked by Vulcainian ants? Their stings are small and easily ignored. But in a swarm, the damage will add up until even the mightiest beast will run away from their nest." It dawned on me then. "We must cause as little damage as possible to Gula," I said. "It will take long, and will be extremely dangerous,. But if we can eventually wear her out, we can safely finish her off with one massive attack."

Iapruseb looked delighted. "Excellent! But might I point out another option?" We nodded and he continued. "If you continue to blast at her with those turrets, she will spend so much energy diverting the damage that she will quickly tire and allow herself to be killed." Megualops looked doubtful. "Well," he said finally. "If out strategy doesn't work, we'll try out your's, Iapruseb. Come on, Squalkus. Let's see if we can pull this off."

-.-.-.-.-.

We attacked while Gula was busy devouring the remnants of the bank, trying to keep her energy up. Blasting her with weak Pulses, slashing at her with a Lightning Sword or Poison Blade at low power, we were succeeding in annoying her and wasting her energy. Whenever her claw glowed with energy, we were quick to dodge and strike back. Eventually, she got so weak that she screeched angrily and ran and hid inside one of the larger buildings.

We caught up and blasted the door down. We found that we were inside a large mess hall. _Appropriate_, I thought, _for a Daemonia representing Gluttony_. Megualops cried out at the sight of Gula ravenously eating. For thanks to the dim light inside the building, we could see our foe clearly at last.

Gula was monstrously large, not as tall as Luxuria, but three times wider. Her body resembled a large flower bulb, made up of eight or so sections that together functioned as a mouth. The sections were large and ended in sharp points, and on the outside of each were four or five blank eyes. On the inside of each section were rows of long fangs. The whole thing was supported on four thick, insectoid legs.

I readied for battle. So did Megualops, although he was a little hesitant at first. We rapidly found out that this battle was to be a lot harder inside than outside. Thanks to the added light, Gula could see us a lot better and was therefore more accurate when she attacked. More importantly, she could see us coming to attack and could dodge more efficiently. As I saw her bat Megaulops away with a leg, I started to wonder if this was such a good idea.

I rose into the air and started flying circles around Gula, peppering her with weak Plasma Pulses. She shrieked and blasted me with energy, but that was easily dodged. As I flew over her gaping maw, I saw that at the bottom was a hole covered by rigid flaps of skin. The flaps opened up, revealing large teeth on the inside of each. Beyond the toothed hole, I saw scraps of food, bones and wood swirling around in a pool of acid. That, I presumed, was her stomach.

Megaulops slashed Gula's leg and she toppled, more from surprise than pain. She quickly got back up, maneuvering her other three legs to push herself up. She growled menacingly, the low, warbling sound making our spines tingle. As her mouth closed, I saw that, when completely closed, the teeth would be long enough to touch in the middle. If something fell in, it would be punctured in so many places that death would come quickly.

I used my Frost Band to freeze each of Gula's eyes in turn, rendering temporarily blind. She screeched in fury and pain as the bitter cold stung her eyes. Megualops stabbed her in one with his Energy Claws. Her shriek grew so loud and shrill that it shattered the windows of the mess hall. Gula blindly struck out with a glowing leg. I barely got my Force Shield up in time to block it. The warmth in the hall was causing her eyes to thaw. Soon, she'd be able to see again.

Megualops raised his Poison Blade, prepared to skewer her in the eye and let the deadly toxin do its work. However, as Megualops brought the blade down, her eyes thawed. He stopped dead as five malicious eyes rolled in their sockets to face him.

It was a fatal mistake. His split-second hesitation gave Gula the chance she was waiting for. She batted Megualops aside with a leg, so quickly that I wasn't even sure she had moved. Then she bent down, thrust a mouth segment underneath the startled Captain, and flung him into the air. I was too horrified to even blink as I watched Megualops, flailing like an eel, fall toward his inevitable doom. A split second after his foot crossed the threshold into her gaping jaws, her mouth snapped shut with an ominous crack.

"NOOOOOOO!" I screamed in terror. My dear friend Megualops, whom I had trained with at the Academy all those years ago, was gone, dead without even a scream to mark his passing. I fell to my knees, numb with fear and shock. I was unable to move as Gula drew nearer, eager for the end of the hunt. Soon, she knew, there would be no one to stop her from destroying the village. I waited for her to fling me into her jaws and chew me into pulp. When she didn't, I looked up.

Gula was shaking her massive head, stomping in rage and frustration, and opening and closing her mouth, as if trying to dislodge something from between her teeth. Curious, I flapped up above her, trying to see what she was so mad about. At first, I was afraid to look, worried that I'd see some piece of Megualops's anatomy dangling from between her fangs. Then, steeling my courage, I looked. And what I saw made me gasp in shock.

It was Megualops, looking very much alive, hanging from her top-most fang with his claws. His back was against the inside of her mouth, and so out of reach of her other teeth. He looked up, saw me, and grinned even wider than normal as he saluted me.

I grinned back as my emotions welled up inside me. Then, I realized that Megualops's grip on Gula's fang was slipping. I readied my Plasma Pulsar, planning to blast Gula's teeth apart and free Megualops. That's when he shouted, "Don't, Squalkus! I've got everything under control!" As I watched, he drew his Missile Flinger. When Gula's stomach opened up to roar her frustration, Megualops put his thumb claw on the big red button, paused for dramatic effect, and pressed it.

What happened next shouldn't have happened at all. After all, Gula could divert large amounts of damage to an alternate dimension. However, Gula must have been really low on energy, so she couldn't escape this attack. The missile rocketed toward her open stomach and made it through less than a second before it closed. A split second later, Gula literally exploded. Her entire body split apart into millions of shards that rocketed in every direction. Megualops was also caught in the explosion, which sent him flying into me at sixty miles an hour.

Iapruseb ran in, looking panicked. "What happened?" he asked, out of breath. Megualops and I got up and walked up to him. "Mission accomplished. Gula is no more.," I told him. Iapruseb looked surprised for a second. Before I could question why, he was back to hid old self. "Excellent!" he exclaimed. "Only three more Daemonia to go! You two are really remarkable!" He went on like this for another minute, and when he had settled down, we went outside.

The villagers were hard at work rebuilding everything that Gula had destroyed. Iapruseb went over to them and explained everything that had happened. Meanwhile, my attention was drawn to the mystical torches ringing the clock tower. Four were now burning. The one marked "Temperance" had lit now that Gula had been defeated. The sight lifted my spirit once again.

-.-.-.-.-.

We joined Iapruseb at his house for another meal. We had spent so much energy fighting Gula that we were famished. The human prepared another of his delicious salads for me and a meaty stew for Megualops. I thought of how hospitable these humans were. I then started to wonder why some creatures were welcoming and others were hostile. Was it personality, or was it a species thing? I watched the sun rise through Iapruseb's window, lost in thought. I was so lost in thought that Megualops shook me to my senses. "Are you listening at all?" he demanded. "Someone just screamed!" I was up and rushing out the door soon after that, with Iapruseb and Megualops following close behind. A human woman ran up to Iapruseb ans spoke frantically in Latin. Iapruseb nodded gravely and spoke back. The woman ran off in a panic. Iapruseb then turned to Megualops and I, a grim expression on his face. "We have trouble. Apparently, a giant monster has taken residence in our cathedral."

-.-.-.-.-.

**What monster? Most likely another Daemonia, but you'll have to wait and see for certain.**

**Also, Gula is Latin for Gluttony.**

**TRIVIA: Here's Gula now - /sporepedia#qry=usr-Gengar114%7C500405245770%3Asast-500738349312%3 Apg-420**

**A two-headed Gromm - /sporepedia#qry=usr-cottonmouth25%7C500513548056%3Asast-5007917244 16%3Apg-80**

**And an Orlundus - /sporepedia#qry=usr-cottonmouth25%7C500513548056%3Asast-5007917287 12%3Apg-80**

**(Type www. spore. com in front of each link and they should work.)**


	7. Ira

**Another day, another Daemonia, huh?**

**I have nothing else to say, so let's get right to it.**

-.-.-.-.-.

"A monster!" exclaimed Megualops. "Is it a Daemonia?" Iapruseb shrugged. "I have no idea. You have to understand that once a Daemonia is killed or driven away, another will always take its place. None of us has ever driven Gula away before, so we really don't know what the last three look like."

With this realization, Megualops and I prepared to do battle without any expectations in mind. We equipped ourselves with every weapon we could. At least, that was the original plan. As it turned out, walking around covered from head to toe in weaponry was clumsy business. So, what we did was spread the weaponry around, so that I carried completely different equipment than Megualops.

When we got back to the village, it looked perfectly peaceful. The afternoon sun shone down on the almost completely repaired village, bathing it in light. There was no sign of any monster, but appearances deceived, which I knew only too well.

Megualops and I offered to defend the village in case the monster attacked. Iapruseb accepted the offer and left on another errand. While Megualops surveyed the town, I checked out the cathedral. As I pushed open the door, I braced for an attack.

It never came. The building was completely empty. The sun shining through the stained glass windows threw colorful reflections on the ground. An altar stood at the back of the room, but its candles were unlit and a layer of dust had settled on the books sitting on top of it. To any outsider, it would have seemed to have been abandoned months ago. But I knew that some hidden danger lurked inside. I left before that danger could ambush me.

-.-.-.-.-.

I met Megualops outside the mill. I asked him if he had seen anything suspicious. "Well, there was one thing," he said. "When I went inside the mill to search for clues, I saw a small cover of mist on the ground. When I breathed it in, I instantly felt dizzy and had to come out here for fresh air." I pondered this. The work of a Daemonia, maybe? Megualops snapped me out of it. "Come on, Squalkus. Let's help defend this village." I nodded at this. We had a job to do, and I planned on getting it done.

While Megualops was busy helping the villagers repair their bank, I snuck into the mill to investigate. There was indeed a strange mist hovering close to the ground. I bent down, took a little sniff, and instantly felt like I was about to pass out. In order to escape the feeling, I had to rush outside and take several gulps of fresh air. So Megualops hadn't been exaggerating. I wondered again what might have caused this.

Megualops joined me about two hours later. I was investigating the clock tower. Even during the day, it had a creepy and mystical feel to it. I felt certain that some great evil lurked in there, but for some reason preferred to stay locked in and watch the Daemonia lay waste to the village.

"Anything?" asked my partner. "Nothing," I replied, deciding not to share my feelings to the practical and realistic Megualops. Suddenly, we heard the village gates open and then shut with a bang.

The two of us turned to see Iapruseb running toward us. "Heading for the village..." he gasped. "It's a... giant... Soleron..." The crowd that had gathered gasped in horror. Megualops and I looked at each other in shock. I had thought that Soleron wouldn't attack the village because of all the dark magic surrounding it. Maybe this Soleron wasn't affected? My pondering was interrupted by a loud crash from the gates. The crowd turned to look.

A massive black creature stood there, the village gates crushed under its feet. It squeezed its bulk through the last of the valley leading into the village and stood there, dull green eyes full of malice. Its spiny tail thrashed, tearing chunks from the mountains, while it roared, armored head seemingly splitting apart to reveal gaping jaws. It was a Soleron, but a gigantic one. The one I had fought in the forest was as tall as a tree - this one was almost the size of the clock tower.

It howled in rage and hunger. That broke the spell that had frozen the vilagers in their fear. Pandemonium ensued as the villagers ran for cover, the Soleron advanced, and Megualops and I drew our weapons and prepared to do battle. Secretly, though, I doubted we would be as lucky with this beast as we were with the other.

The Soleron charged straight at us. I fired a Plasma Pulse while Megualops did the same with his Missile Flinger. Both hit their mark, but my Pulse merely bounced off while the missile blew a hole in its armor. Neither were enough to stop the monster as it barreled towards us. We were sent flying with the impact.

I got up painfully. The Soleron was already coming back for another charge. I flapped high above it, my foot missing its venomous head spines by a millimeter. Megualops raised his Damage Recycler, unable to run away in time. The resulting impact was cushioned by the Recycler's force-absorbing power. The Soleron howled in frustration. It was getting annoyed by the fact that we just wouldn't die. It charged again, this time with its mouth wide open. Megualops dodged at the very last second and it snapped at empty air.

I stabbed it with my Lightning Sword and the beast screeched in pain, the sound bouncing again and again off of the cliffs surrounding the village. It twisted its head to face me. A villager who accidentally got too close was scratched by its head spines and was instantly vaporized by the venom reacting to his blood. I winced at the loud bang that occured.

The Soleron's back spines started to glow as they absorbed the unfortunate human's atoms. Not that it took any notice. No, the Soleron's attention was focused entirely on me. Megualops noticed this and threw his Poison Blade at its eye, hoping to either kill it or at least divert its attention. Miraculously, the Soleron took no notice of the speeding sword until it was right on top of it. But by then, the deadly blade had embedded itself in its left eye and remained stuck there.

The sreech that came from the Soleron's gaping mouth was so loud and frightening that several windows shattered, rocks fell from the cliffs, and a few human children dropped dead from fear. Megualops covered his ear slits in vain and I was blown back a few inches. The scream seemed to go on forever, and when it finally abated, the Soleron fell to the ground with a huge crash and became still. Several tense seconds went by until Megualops got the nerve to walk up to it and yank the Poison Blade from its eye. The Soleron didn't even twitch.

The watching crowd burst into cheers simultaneously. Megualops and I jumped from the sudden noise, then broke into smiles. We had successfully defended a helpless village from a threat that nearly rivaled the threat of a Daemonia. As Megualops thanked and was thanked by the villagers, I turned back to the dead Soleron. Its sightless eyes stared back at me, a dull green in color. As with the last Soleron, I thought back to the book I had read. The illustration had shown a Soleron with bright red eyes. Were the Soleron on this planet somehow different? Or was there something else at work here, something that didn't bear thinking about, involved here?

-.-.-.-.-.

Night had fallen. Megualops, Iapruseb, and the villagers were asleep. I was alone with my thoughts, patrolling the village. In another two hours, it would be Megualops's turn to be on watch. But until then, it was up to me to defend the sleeping valley from any threats.

As I thought, I took out my Plasma Pulsar and fired an imaginary shot at an imaginary opponent. For some reason, doing that reminded me of the night I saved that human boy from the Gromm. My hand crept toward the little bracelet with the Xiliite charm on it and clutched it tightly. Was it really a good-luck charm like some said? Were our close scrapes with the Daemonia and the Soleron really the product of nothing more than luck?

My mind wandered from there. It finally settled on my sister Keerast. Was she worried about me? Her hatchday had been several days ago, and no doubt she thought that I wasn't coming back home. Then again, she had never given up hope for me before and surely she wouldn't now. I swore that I'd see her again, first thing after the Daemonia were all dead.

A loud crash brought me back to my senses/ I spun around and saw smoke coming from the cathedral. I ran, heading toward the building... or what was left of it. A gaping hole had been torn in the side of the building, damaging the north and east walls and part of the roof as well. I gasped at the sight, and at that moment, a shadow passed over the ground in front of me. I looked up, but the thing had vanished.

I looked around. If the thing could wreak such damage on the cathedral without being seen, who knows what it could do to the rest of the village. I started for Iapruseb's house when, from the corner of my eye, I saw something move in the night sky. I turned and saw it.

It was some immense flying creature, blacker than the night sky, soaring through the darkness. I couldn't see much, but I could pick out vast, membraned wings and fearsome talons. Suddenly, the creature started to dive toward the valley. A shriek rang out into the night, growing louder and louder as it dove. As it neared a house, a great plume of emerald fire shot out and struck the dwelling. The creature pulled out of its dive ans ascended sharply, then started to circle the village, as if trying to decide what to attack next.

A family ran from the burning house, screaming with fright. The rest of the villagers went outside to see what had happened, caught sight of the flying beast, and ran inside again. Unfortunately for the fleeing family, everyone else was too scared to offer them refuge from the monster. The monster in question suddenly caught sight of the panicked group, hovered for a moment, and dove, shrieking all the way down. In another two seconds, it had knocked the mother aside and was flying off, a wailing infant in its talons.

I had seen enough. I ran for Iapruseb's house to find Iapruseb and Megualops headed for me. "Did you see it?" I asked when we met. "No," said Megualops in reply. "But we heard the entire thing. It must be that monster that the human told us about." Iapruseb, however, was staring at the circling creature, looking horrified and shocked. "My God..." he was muttering. "It simply can't be..." When I asked him what it might be, he simply said, "No, I could be wrong. My suspicions will probably never be confirmed and anyway, there's no sense in frightening the villagers more than they need to be. Don't mind me."

The creature was really going at it. Hour after hour, it kidnapped villagers, burned houses, and caused terrifying mayhem. Once, it even caught a human in its claws, flew to about two hundred feet, dropped the human, and caught him again just as he was about to hit the ground. It made for a gruesome spectacle, and when the creature got tired of its game, it caught the terrified villager in its jaws and swallowed him alive.

All the while, its identity remained a completely unknown. No one could get a clear view of what it was exactly, and those few who could were either in the beast's talons or jaws (in other words, doomed anyway). At one point Megualops suggested it was some kind of dragon, from the shape of its wings, fire-spitting abilities, and the way the domestic animals cowered in fear, but no one could confirm it.

Obviously, neither I nor Megualops were sleeping through this. We did everything we could to completely stop, temporarily halt, or at least momentarily delay the monster's progress. Nothing we did really helped in the long run, however. Practically all of our attacks missed, and the ones that didn't had hardly any effect. Once, Megualops climbed up to the spire of the clock tower, jumped onto the creature as it flew by, and attempted to attack it from point-blank range. Sadly, before he could, the creature flipped him off, caught him in its talons, and flew toward the ground feetfirst, slamming Megualops into the pavement. I could have sworn the impact crater was at least six feet in diameter.

Thankfully, the attacks stopped at sunrise. At the sight of the sun, the creature panicked and crawled through the hole in the cathedral, where it stayed all morning. I asked Iapruseb again and again if I could go after it, but he refused each time, saying that we needed rest badly. Megualops had been paralyzed, as the impact with the ground had damaged his spine. So it was only me who stood between the creature and a badly beat-up village.

Everyone went to sleep in the afternoon, as sleeping during the night was out of the question for as long as that flying monster was there. I had decided to attack the creature while it was still light out. I left a note on Iapruseb's desk explaining everything. It read:

"Dear Iapruseb,

Despite your warnings, I have thought about this thoroughly and am going to defeat this monster. If something goes wrong, contact my sister Keerast on planet Bybekhara (coordinates 537195678). Just in case you'll never see me again... farewell.

Sincerely, Squalkus"

Now, it was time to fight. Hopefully, I'd still be alive by the time I was through...

-.-.-.-.-.

I had returned to my spaceship and repaired all of my equipment. It didn't take long - in fact, the journey to the spaceship took longer - but the sooner I got this done, the less time the remaining Daemonia would have to charge power. So I took my time with the repairs but at the same time did it as fast as I could.

Back at the village, I was about halfway to the cathedral when I heard the roar. At first, I thought it was another Soleron, but then I noticed that there was something familiar about the noise. I looked up anad gasped. A spaceship was landing right inside the village. It wasn't just any ship either. It was a carrier or dropship, the taxi cabs of the galaxy. It was dropping someone off on this planet, but who?

When the dropship landed, who should come walking out but my dear sister Keerast. I was speechless with shock. I blurted out, "What in the name of the Tomori are you doing here?" She replied with a slight smile, "I came to help out."

I had never mentioned this, but Keerast was a Captain as well. However, she had graduated from the Captain Academy only recently, and therefore was only a Rank 1. She looked like an odd sight with health regenerator, Energy Claws, and a Swarm Caller. Now she told me, "It's kind of a long story. You see, I had waited two days and you never came back. I started to ask myself what I should do and then I saw your transmitter, which you had comvieniently left on your desk. I locked onto your signal, hired a dropship, and came here." I just stood there, both mouths open. When I recovered, I told her everything, about the journey here, Iapruseb, and the Daemonia. When I had finished, Keerast asked, "So you're going to kill this monster right now, and Megualops has been paralyzed and needs to heal?" I nodded. "I have to say, I need all the help I can get," I said to her.

She agreed to help me dispatch the creature lurking in the cathedral. We headed for it, unaware that, somehow, the monster was expecting us.

-.-.-.-.-.

We entered the abandoned cathedral only to see it deserted. Keerast was fascinated and awestruck at the same time. I had to pull her away from the stained glass windows which, I had to admit, were shockingly beautiful. After about three minutes of searching, I found the entrance to a basement. Both of us headed through into the pitch blackness. Keerast was very nervous, as we were headed into the unknown, with no idea where are quarry was, a quarry that had easily defeated Megualops. It was totally understandable that she would be frightened.

Suddenly, a chill went down my spine as we heard the flutter of wings and a soft rush of air. Keerast squeaked with fear and, an instant later, something slammed into us and we were sent sprawling. Then we heard the door slam. I strained to hear the click of the lock, but couldn't hear anything other than my breath and Keerast's groan of pain. "Wait here," I said to Keerast, handing her a glowing orb so she could find her way out, and I went through.

I gasped so loud that I was sure that Keerast could hear me from here. The monster stood before me, a horribly intelligent expression on its face. It was a terrifying mix of hunger and amusement.

The creature was like a vast bat, with membraned wings that spanned three-quarters of the length of this huge room. It was covered in a combination of scales, skin, and fur, and its back legs and wings ended in ferocious talons. Its snout was kind of like a pig's, and it had large ears and at least eight fangs poking out from its lower jaw. It gave me a chilling smile as I stared at it in horrified awe. Then, it did what I would never had expected in a thousand years: it spoke to me.

"Greetings, Captain Squalkus," it said in a voice like bones breaking. "I bid you welcome to my new domain." Somehow, I forced myself to speak. "How do you know my name?" I stampered. "Oh, a little bird told me," said the creature, grinning nastily. "As for who I am, I am the Daemonia known as Ira." I gasped a second time. "Why so surprised?" Ira asked. "After all, you knew my true identity all along, didn't you?" Suddenly, I realized that the Daemonia was right. I had secretly suspected that he was a Daemonia from the start.

Ira nodded encouragingly. "Yes, I know things that even you only suspect about yourself," he said, crimson eyes glinting with malice. "But you are a curious little creature, aren't you, Squalkus? Why don't we have a little discussion, you and I? Perhaps you might learn something." Ira chuckled as if laughing at some hidden joke. I felt myself relaxing. Was it the realization that Ira just wanted to talk, or was it some power of his at work, manipulating my emotions?

"Why do you want to talk with me?" I asked, bewildered. "You're a Daemonia, for Tomori's sake. Why not just kill me on the spot?" Ira nodded as if he understood how I felt. "I admit, it would be a joy to see you die horribly, and yes, I do plan on killing you. But if I did, you would be dying ignorant. I like to make sure that my prey knows certain things, so that they can go to the afterlife perfectly happy. See?"

It did have a certain logic to it. "Why DO you want to kill me?" I asked, alreadt suspecting the answer. "Well," said Ira. "You've already killed four of my brothers and sisters. That cannot be tolerated even by a relatively merciful being like me. There is, however, something more. You are a threat. All Captains are a threat to us Daemonia and the galaxy we have always wished to possess. In order for us to take over the galaxy, all Captains must die."

Ira's answers brought more questions with it. "But how do you plan on killing every Captain in the galaxy?" The Daemonia shrugged. "Don't know. But our leader thinks that we should wait until we have finished absorbing our Sin's energy." He paused and continued thoughtfully. "You know, it's odd how I represent the Virtue of Wrath, but I am the most calm and merciful of my kind?"

I was shocked at what he just said. "Don't you mean the reverse?" I asked, dumbstruck. "Wrath isn't a Virtue! The energy that you are hoarding inside of you is!" Ira laughed at this. "Poor, ignorant Captain. Surely you must realize this is all about your point of view? One creature's Sin is another's Virtue. Everything just boils down to your point of view. Everything that you, Squalkus, live to fight and destroy is what I, Ira, live to encourage and nurture."

Unable to speak, I just stared at the massive creature in amazement. Ira just continued talking as if I wasn't there. "It all started when me and my brothers and sisters were born at the center of the galaxy. We were created to balance the power of your Virtues so their powers didn't become too prominent. You see, the Virtues made life too peaceful. Everyone believed that they would always be safe. It was too much of a good thing. So we were made from your Sins of Sloth, Greed, Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. When we were born, these things becan to grow in people that had once known only love, peace, prosperity, and all those other idiotic notions.

"We began to see the galaxy fall into disarray as the positive and negative emotions caused turmoil. We decided to rid the galaxy of positive emotions, so that your Sins would thrive without conflict and the galaxy would become orderly again." Ira's voice became mosre dangerous and his expression darkened. "But now, the galaxy will never be orderly again. You, Squalkus, have killed Acedia, Avarita, Luxuria, and Gula. The galaxy cannot become orderly with only Wrath, Envy, and Pride to rule it. You will pay dearly for this!" Ira suddenly shot up into the air and hovered in the cathedral's vast space. All at once, I found my voice. "But getting rid of positivity isn't the only way to calm the galaxy! Negativity must go! If I defeat you and the other Daemonia, peace will once again reign."

Ira started shrieking with laughter. "How noble, Squalkus!" he gasped. "But it isn't that simple. Even if we perish, our Virtues will live on. You must travel to the center of the galaxy in order to restore peace. And even if you could get there, you'd need to flood the Core with positivity, something only your Virtues can do. And they won't do it, because they also think it is too much of a good thing to get rid of your Sins. Sadly, though, you will not survive these next few minutes." With that, he struck with his talons.

I got my Force Shield up to block, then struck with my Lightning Sword. Ira dodged, the blasted me with green flame. I blasted back with a Plasma Pulse, which shot through the flames and pushed them back to the Daemonia. Ira shrieked with pain as his flames and my Pulse struck him in the face. But he was far from down.

Keerast came up from the other room and joined the fight. After an hour, we were exhausted and Ira was still going strong. As I froze Ira's flames solid with my Frost Band, I remembered how he had fled into the cathedral when the sun had started to rise. I had to act on this fast, for the sun had started to sink over the mountains. In a few minutes, it would have vanished behind them. So, I set my Plasma Pulsar on its highest setting, took aim at the roof, and fired. The roof was blasted off, letting sunlight come pouring in. Ira screeched as the hot light burned his sensitive skin. He then flapped off into the village. Keerast and I looked at each other, nodded once, and flapped after him.

-.-.-.-.-.

Megualops, unable to move his arms or legs, twisted his head to look out Iapruseb's window in response to a loud screech. What he saw astounded him. He saw a giant, bat-like monster, the same one from last night, flapping through the air in obvious pain, followed by two Tomori. His heart leapt as he recognized Squalkus and his sister Keerast. What on Vulcainus was she doing here? Well, no matter. His spine was healing quickly thanks to Iapruseb's homemade herbal medicine. In just a few minutes, he would be able to join the fight.

-.-.-.-.-.

Ira was making things very difficult. Not that I expected him not to, but I was growing frustrated. He was a much better flier than me or Keerast, and had much better aim at that. Not to mention that Keerast and I had to frequently land on a rooftop to rest.

I reflected a plume of flame back at Ira with my Force Shield while Keerast attacked with her Swarm Caller. As a multitude of angry hornets assaulted him, I blasted a hole in one of his wings with a Plasma Pulse and froze part of the other wing. Ira plummeted like a rock and slammed into the ground. Unable to fly, he let loose with a completely unexpected attack - a bolt of chain lightning that shocked Keerast and I into blacking out.

We came to a few seconds later. Ira was crawling back to the cathedral, obviously trying to find a good hiding place where he could restore his energy. I blasted him with my Frost Band to stop him in his tracks. Keerast opened a wound in his neck with her Energy Claws while I slashed him in the shoulder with my Lightning Sword. He was down, certainly, but not yet out. A Plasma Pulse to the head took care of that. Then, I heard Megualops's cry of "STOP!" I turned to see him weakly limping toward us. "Could I do the honors?" he asked. I nodded and he drew his Missile Flinger. One missile later and Ira, Daemonia of Wrath, was no more.

-.-.-.-.-.

**Keerast joins the party, and another Sin has been vanquished.**

**By the way, Ira is Latin for Wrath.**

**TRIVIA: Here's the giant bat himself - /sporepedia#qry=usr-Gengar114%7C500405245770%3Asast-500738349310%3 Apg-440 (Type www. spore. com at the beginning and it should work.)**


	8. Invidia

**Seventh chapter, we're almost at the end! Only two more Daemonia remain to be defeated, but they're not going to go down without a fight, I can tell you that.**

**On with the show, then!**

-.-.-.-.-.

Keerast and I slumped to the ground, exhausted. Megualops slowly made his way to where we sat and knelt by my side. I waved him off and got to my feet. As I helped Keerast up, Megualops said to me, "Now tell me, Squalkus, what the heck is SHE doing here?"

Keerast explained to him what she had explained to me earlier. While she was doing that, I looked up at the clock tower. I still sensed extreme evil in there. My crest tingled as I sensed the evil grow slightly stronger. There was a Daemonia hiding somewhere in there, I was sure of it. But for now, it wasn't attacking, and anyway, the door to the interior was locked, so we couldn't get in.

Then I looked at the torches. A fifth had lit, representing the fact that only two Daemonia remained. The word engraved on the torch said "Kindness".

Megualops and Keerast finished their dicussion and came to join me. "So, only two more to go, huh?" said Megualops. "Yes," I said. "But remember, these two have had longer to gather energy. They will be the hardest foes we've had to face yet."

Keerast frowned at this. "Tougher than Ira, you mean? I can't imagine!" she said. "Neither can I," I replied...

-.-.-.-.-.

We spent the rest of the night patrolling the village in shifts, overseeing repairs on the damaged buildings. Keerast had the first watch, and she took the opportunity to explore the village, watching the humnas repair their homes and observing the domestic animals go about their business. She stopped when her wanders took her to the town's mill.

Keerast started thinking. Megualops told her about the strange mist that was inside and how it had almost knocked him out. She started thinking about her studies at the Captain Academy and all she had learned about poisonous gases. "Maybe if I saw it for myself," she said to no one in particular, "I could be able to identify it and warn Squalkus." So she went inside, leaving the door open so she could make a quick exit.

The first thing that Keerast noticed was that the mist was up to her upper leg, far higher than when Megualops had seen it. The second was a strange hissing noise, which she assumed was the gas leaking out of a pipe.

Suddenly, the hissing grew louder. The mist started to swirl and churn as if it were a living thing disturbed by her presence. It rose and completely surrounded her, and as she breathed it in, she felt herself growing weaker. Then she collapsed, and five minutes later, Keerast had vanished.

-.-.-.-.-.

It was time for my shift. I woke drowsily to find Iapruseb gone again. I yawned and briefly wondered where he was going time and again. Then I shook such thoughts off and started patrolling.

Most of the humans had retired to their unfinished homes to sleep the rest of the night. The ones still working looked like they would drop from exhaustion any minute. When I looked at the clock tower, I felt that same sense of great evil radiating from it. When I looked at the massive clock face, I thought I saw something move behind it. The sense of evil strengthened suddenly. Whether it was from actually seeing the thing or that its power had just increased, I couldn't say. But I stopped wondering when I reached the mill. I was horrified at what I saw.

The door was wide open. Poisonous mist was spilling out from inside, slowly spreading across the village. Already I was waist-deep in it. Then, like some great amoeba, the gas rose up to engulf me. I dropped like a meteor. As I started to drift off, I heard a strange, hissing voice. It whispered to me, "You have come looking for me... and now I have found you..."

And then I heard no more.

-.-.-.-.-.

I awoke in a large, bare room. A dim lantern hung from the ceiling, slightly illuminating the chamber. Keerast and Megualops were slowly stirring from sleep. The smell of rot and death pervaded the room, making it feel like a tomb.

All of a sudden, my friends woke up. Megualops sighed with relief when he saw me and Keerast embraced me. "Thank goodness you're okay," said Megualops. "I saw you collapse earlier and ran to help, but the mist got me as well." He looked around and shuddered. "Before I blacked out, I feared that I wouldn't wake up again."

Suddenly, a voice hissed, "Captains... So dramatic." I looked around, but couldn't identify where the voice had come from. Keerast seemed to have heard it, too. She turned to Megualops. "I just heard something. You don't suppose there are snakes in here?" Snakes were Keerast's worst fear.

A series of high-pitched giggles rang out. Keerast squeaked in fright and Megualops said, "I heard something, too. A kind of hiss..." I grew impatient with the two of them. "Can't you hear it? It's a voice. Someone's speaking to us..." I trailed off when I realized that they were looking at me in confusion.

The voice spoke again, "They cannot understand, Squalkus. Only you can..." Something scuttled nearby. It sounded gigantic. "You are Entomolic... You can speak to insects," it said. Keerast and Megualops looked around for the creature. Megualops suddenly looked up and yelled, "Look out! It's on the ceiling!" I looked just in time to see a monster plummeting from the ceiling.

The force of the blow sent me flying. When I regained my senses, I gasped in horror and revulsion.

It was a massive, insectoid beast, with four long, spiny arms. Four fleshy growths sprouted from its head and ended in tentacles, making its face resemble that of the Dune Shifter of Hydraria. The inside of each growth was lined with fangs. The creature's skin was the color of a diseased leaf. I caught a glimpse of a spiny bulb on its rear end, probably filled with venom.

The monster looked at me with large, unblinking eyes. What disturbed me most about its eyes was the fact they had no pupils or irises. They were completely white, yet I had the impression that the creature was looking at me with interest and curiosity, not anger or hunger.

"Welcome, Squalkus." It's voice was high and whispery and gave me chills. "I am Invidia, the Daemonia of Envy." I was hypnotized by the creature. She wasn't roaring or hissing at me in rage, but making pleasant conversation, as if she wanted nothing more than to be my friend.

Invidia went on. "I have been watching you for some time, Squalkus. I find it nothing short of amazing that you were able to defeat me brothers and sisters. It is quite fascinating, how you turned your potential defeats into remarkable victories." I looked at her in amazement. "But," I protested. "Megualops and Keerast helped. If it weren'f for them, I'd be dead."

Invidia glanced at the two Captains watching the conversation, the turned her attention back to me. "But you remember, don't you, that Megualops nearly died fighting Gula, and couldn't help you fight Ira, either. You see, your friend and your sister are holding you back too much. Without them, you would have already saved the galaxy." She advanced on me slightly. "I sense great potential in you, Squalkus, far more than you may think. It would be terribly wasteful of me to kill you."

Her eyes, devoid of emotion, seemed to brighten. She drew her grotesque face close to mine. "Join the Daemonia," Invidia whispered, her voice quavering with excitement. "Help us, and the galaxy will be ours before the moon rises again!" Invidia's proposition seemed to stir some sense into me. I hadn't noticed it before, but she seemed to have hypnotized me slightly with those bulbous eyes. If my will had been just a tad weaker, she would have convinced me to help her.

"But," I said uncertainly, to buy time, "Ira said the Daemonia couldn't rule without all seven of the Daemonia." Invidia suddenly giggled, a sound that made me cringe in revulsion. "Oh, you're a clever one, Squalkus," she laughed. "He merely said that the galaxy wouldn't be orderly. We can still rule. And besides, with more of the Virtues' power to go around, we will become so powerful that we will terrify everyone in the galaxy into complete obedience."

Invidia drew closer and backed me into a wall, lowering her head to my eye level. Keerast gulped; from her perspective, it looked like the Daemonia was closing in on me. "Make your choice, Squalkus," she hissed softly. "Either rule the galaxy with my brother and I, or die a painful death with your friends." Her hypnotic gaze was boring into me. In that moment, I made my decision. I whipped out my Lightning Sword and stabbed her in the eye.

Invidia screeched and threw her head back as she thrashed around, arms swinging wildly. I made it back to Keerast and Megualops as they readied for battle. "What happened?" Keerast asked. I replied, "Invidia tried to win me over to her side. Luckily, it didn't work." The Daemonia stopped screeching and glared at us with her remaining eye. The other eye's socket wept sparks and acidic blood. "You fool, Invidia!" I yelled in anger. "I would rather die than betray my friends!"

Invidia stood her ground. "You'd rather die, then?" she whispered menacingly. "Then I, the Daemonia of Envy, would be happy to oblige!" And she lunged at us.

Sidestepping, I fired my Plasma Pulsar, only to see her bat the projectile away with an arm. Her claw then glowed with a green energy and she struck me with it. I went flying, but luckily I opened my wings fast enough to stop my progress. Keerast opened hers as well and took to the air. Megualops charged, jaws open, venomous fangs fully extended.

Invidia knocked my sister out of the air with a limb even as she fended Megualops off with another. With all three of us down, she spread her head tentacles apart, revealing the hole that was her mouth, and sprayed us with poisonous mist. Megualops and I managed to get away from the jet, but Keerast got a face-ful and collapsed.

Megualops fired a missile, which hit Invidia just before she closed her appendages. The explosion that ensued blasted a tentacle off and flung her the length of the room. Getting up but stumbling a bit, she retaliated with her glowing claws, hitting us with the force of a Soleron's charge.

I took advantage of her close proximity to grab onto her attacking limb and dig my Lightning Sword into it. The weapon succeeded in cracking the shell and severing the limb, but a spurt of her acidic blood ate through its inner workings and rendered it permanently out of action. Megualops took advantage og the distraction and stuck his Poison Blade into her flank. The damage was done, but again, her blood melted the glowing blade and made it useless.

Hissing with pain, Invidia broke through the wall and disappeared from sight. Looking briefly at the sleeping Keerast, we followed in hot pursuit.

We caught up to the Daemonia in a corner of the village, where humans ran from her in a panic. Swallowing an unfortunate villager, she lunged again with her claws. Megualops and I dodged in different directions and regrouped behind her. Then the spiny bulb on her rear spat a glowing energy ball at us. We ran, already knowing what it was and that our attempts at escape were futile at best.

The energy ball hit the ground and exploded with the force of an H-bomb. We were caught in the full force of the explosion and slammed into the other side of the canyon at 150 miles an hour, blasting through a house as we did so. For me, I ached very badly and was close to unconsciousness. For Megualops, the world went black.

I got up in time to see Invidia making her way toward me, breathing heavily and staggering with exhaustion. Obviously, the energy bomb had taken a huge toll on her. I activated my Swarm Caller and brought her to her knees with a swarm of hornets. However, she got back up and charged, striking me with an energized claw and bringing me down. She was on me in three steps, pinning me to the ground with her three limbs. She looked down at me triumph blazing in her remaining eye. "And now, Squalkus," Invidia whispered maliciously. "You die!" And suddenly, her jaws were racing toward me.

I don't know how I pulled off what I did just then. By reflex, I thrust my Plasma Pulsar into her mouth and hit the control. The Pulse burned through the roof of her mouth and exploded when it hit her brain.

Invidia stopped and looked at me in disbelief. Then she said, "I was right... You have great potential... Squalkus..." Then her body shriveled up, fractured, and turned to dust.

-.-.-.-.-.

Keerast and Megualops awoke about an hour later and found me reparing the building Megualops and I had crashed through. Believe me, nothing is more difficult than repairing a Squalkus-shaped hole in a wooden building. I was gathering up the pieces of wood on the floor resulting from our crash, planning to use them to fill the holes, when I turned to find myself face-to-face with Megualops. I jumped so badly I scattered some of the wood on the floor. "For Tomori's sale, don't do that!" I said, annoyed.

Keerast, who was behind Megualops, started to laugh. Megualops smiled broadly as he said, "We got word from Iapruseb that you defeated Invidia." I nodded and he continued, "You, er, wouldn't mind if we asked how?" I obliged him and told him what had happened since he blacked out.

When I finished, Keerast's eyes widened in amazement and even Megualops seemed impressed. All of a sudden, Iapruseb walked in. "Wonderful! Simply wonderful! I can't believe you did it!" he said, unusually cheerfully. Megualops frowned slightly. "What's so wonderful about defeating the sixth Daemonia?" he asked. I finished for him, "Besides the obvious, I mean." Iapruseb looked at us. "Well, there are now six Virtues free! Only one Daemonia remains, the one representing the Sin of Pride."

We went outside. Indeed, six torches were now burning around the clock tower. The new one was marked, "Patience". The energy of the mystic blue flames seemed to quell the feeling of evil radiating from the tower. It seemed to relax me, seeing the six bowls of fire and knowing that only one Daemonia remained to be found and defeated.

We retired to my ship for some rest and food. While I slept off my fatigue, Megualops and Keerast talked. I had told them everything that Invidia had said. They had seemed amazed at the fact I could speak to insects. Now, they discussed my gift in whispers, wondering whether I had learned it or whether it was simply instinct.

I awok several hours later. The sun was high in the sky and the other two were repairing the injuries my ship had sustained during my brief hiatus travelling around the galaxy. I thought back to the distress call from Iapruseb. How confused I had been when I heard it. Now, we were preparing for the final battle, the one that would decide the fate of the galaxy.

Suddenly, I was aware of a commotion outside. I looked out of the cockpit viewport and gasped in amazement. I saw no less than thrity or forty two-headed Gromm headed in the direction of the village. Alongside them were about sixty mushroom-like Orlundus and two large Soleron. My heart filled with dread. This couldn't have been a coincedence. I leapt to the controls as Keerast and Megualops burst in. "Did you see that?" asked Keerast fearfully. "They're heading for the village!" Megualops was frantically working the controls as if I wasn't there at all. He finished in a few seconds and said, "OK, Squalkus. Get us to the village, and quickly. I have a feeling that there is more to this than we can see..."

-.-.-.-.-.

Megualops was absolutely right. The horde of creatures for the village were only reinforcements. There were already about thirty Orlundus and twenty Gromm at the village. We landed my ship on the mountains surrounding the village and immediately ran out. Keerast and I flew down to help, and Megualops, unable to fly, said he'd find another way down.

We had been fighting for five minutes when Megualops joined us. Then, suddenly, a flood of creatures poured through the gates, overwhelming the humans fighting at the entrance. As the two Soleron roared, my heart sank. The reinforcements had arrived.

-.-.-.-.-.

**Almost there! Squalkus, Megualops, and Keerast have only one more Daemonia to get through! But he's going to prove the toughest of all...**

**Stay tuned! Oh, and reviews would be nice too.**

**TRIVIA: Invidia, in all of her ugly glory - /sporepedia#qry=usr-Gengar114%7C500405245770%3Asast-500738348492%3 Apg-460 (As with every other link, type in www. spore. com at the beginning and it should work.)**


	9. Superbia's Deception

**Third-last chapter, not counting the epilogue.**

**Now let's start wrapping this story up - we'll need a lot of paper to do so.**

-.-.-.-.-.

Even for us experienced Captains, fighting off a horde of savage creatures a hundred strong is a nearly impossible task. So it came as no surprise that we were overwhelmed after a few minutes. We had taken out nearly all of the Gromm and a few Orlundus, but Megualops was knocked out by a kick from a stray Gromm, Keerast had fallen ill due to Orlundus spores entering her lungs, and I was trampled by a Soleron. I managed to get up painfully, and I saw Megualops waking beside me. Keerast was struggling to stand, but failing as she grew weaker.

I noticed a human male hiding near me. I went up to him and asked him to take Keerast to my ship and give her a bottle of antidote that I had placed on a shelf in the cockpit. I told him that I would defend him if anything tried to attack.

At Megualops's signal, the human hoisted Keerast onto his back and ran. He was instantly noticed by the remaining monsters, but we leapt out at any creature who tried to make a meal out of the human and unconscious Tomori. As each monster that lunged at him fell to our weapons, the human became more confident. However, one of the Soleron noticed us and charged. The human faltered as the 45-foot high behemoth rumbled towards him, but Megualops fired a missile straight down its gaping throat. The Soleron collapsed as the missile imploded in its stomach.

We made it through the gates and Megualops pointed the man toward a narrow path that wound through the mountains. "No creature will follow him there," he said knowingly. Meanwhile, we returned to the village and cleared out the leftover beasts.

"You know," I said to Megualops, about two minutes later. "I don't think that an army of monsters could have just happened to attack this village. I think someone... ordered them here." Megualops looked at me suspiciously. "How?" he asked. "What's the connection?" I thought hard. "Ever since Ira appeared in the cathedral," I began thoughtfully. "I've felt some great evil in the clock tower, and my feeling has been growing ever since then. Maybe that this evil has been drawing creatures to the village and driving them mad."

Megualops shrugged. "Perhaps," he said simply. I looked at him quizzically, and he went on. "I've been thinking that the tower is where the seventh Daemonia is hiding." From inside my outer mouth, my quizzical look turned into a skeptical one. "Come on, Squalkus! Doesn't it make sense that a Daemonia representing Pride would hide in the biggest and most important building?" I shrugged and replied, "Yeah, I guess, but why would a Daemonia representing Pride hide at all?"

We debated for another ten minutes, but then a noise made us look up. Running towards us was Keerast, practically radiating good health. I raced up and hugged her, while Megualops simply grinned.

-.-.-.-.-.

Night fell. The humans had all fallen asleep. Keerast and I patrolled the village. There was no way I was leaving her alone, not after the incident with Invidia's mist. I wasn't feeling that well. The feeling of nausea had struck rather suddenly. Then, even more suddenly, the world spun and vanished.

I saw the six Daemonia, all looking at me with hatred. I was paralyzed with fear. Then, the six started to blend into another figure, with glowing red eyes. It lunged, fangs extended, eyes flashing...

I woke up abruptly. Keerast was bent over me, flapping her wings to stir up a draft which might wake me. "What is it?" she demanded instantly. "One of your dreams?" I nodded uncertainly, thinking hard.

The reason I had never mentioned this was the fact that it terrified me. Sometimes, before some catastrophic event, I would have a vision or dream of it. However, the dreams were never clear and always horrifying. I would have given my cruiser and Captain status away if it meant ridding myself of this strange ability. Sadly though, it was here to stay.

Something jarred me out of my thoughts. It was a soft sound, barely noticeable at first, but growing louder. It was a stealthy sliding sound, as if something was gliding across the ground. It got louder, as if that something was closing in on us. I looked around frantically, but the sound was already growing fainter. I relaxed and turned to Keerast, who looked spooked.

Suddenly, a loud crash followed by a clang of metal rang into the night. I jumped and readied my Plasma Pulsar. Keerast extended her Energy Claws in a sorry attempt to look brave. The sliding sound started again, quickly getting louder. Then it stopped. I got the impression that the creature was very close by.

A whistling sound, as if something was flying toward us. A scream from Keerast, then silence. The sliding sound, and the faint outline of a bladed tail disappearing into the clock tower. The truth struck me like a thunderbolt. The final Daemonia had kidnapped my sister from right under my nose.

-.-.-.-.-.

I was back in my cruiser with Megualops. The horrific scene played and replayed in my head. Along with each replay came questions, questions I barely even noticed through my pain. Why didn't I see the Daemonia? How did it strike so quickly? And why would it leave, cause destruction, and then come back?

Megualops was muttering under his breath, trying to figure this all out. I could not have cared less. The horrible truth settled inside me like a pebble settles to the bottom of a lake: Keerast was dead, if not during the attack, then certainly by now. At least I had been with her in her final moments...

All of a sudden, I composed myself. Who was I to sit around moping while a Daemonia was at large? It was an insult to my sister's memory to do this. Keerast would have wanted Megualops and I to go after the creature and make sure it never killed again. I stood up and said boldly, "Megualops." There was enough courage and leadership in my voice to make my friend look up in amazement. "We are going after the Daemonia that did this. We will finish our job and make sure that Keerast's sacrifice was not in vain."

Megualops's permanent smile broadened and his tiny eyes widened in admiration under his head armor. "I couldn't have said it any better myself," he said, voice swelling with pride and love for his best friend in the galaxy. "Then let's go, Squalkus - we have a monster to slay."

-.-.-.-.-.

We had equipped ourselves with our equipment. I snatched the Knarite crystal from Iapruseb's display table and attached it to my Plasma Pulsar. As the weapon hummed with new power, my heart filled with determination. But it was short-lived - when we approached the clock tower, we saw a shocking scene. One of the torches had been demolished and the flames had vanished. Megualops turned to me with a grim look on his face. "Does this mean... that the Daemonia has captured another Virtue?"

But I didn't hear him. My full attention was on a small slip of paper I had found near the damaged torch. As I read it, my heart hammered in my chest.

"If you wish to see your sister again, come to the top of the clock tower and bring the Knarite crystal, or else Keerast will die a painful death."

So Keerast was alive, but most likely better off dead. I crumpled the paper, anger taking the place of my determination. I wanted nothing more than to murder the twisted evil being that had stooped so low. I marched to the door of the clock tower, Megualops trailing behind. The door had been unlocked; I pushed it open.

There was no flurry of movement, no ambush, no glimpse of any foe. The room was completely empty. I looked up. There was an extensive flight of stairs spiraling upwards along the walls. A single lantern was dangling from the ceiling, some 70-80 feet above. I started to climb.

The climb took a while to complete. It quickly became apparent that the clock tower was very old and in poor condition. The wooden steps creaked and groaned under our weight, the sounds echoing slightly in the massive space. Sometimes, a particularly rotten stair would snap and fall to the floor, with me or Megualops nearly following it. With no railing of any kind to hold onto, we leaned against the wall for balance.

After about a half hour of climbing, we reached a trapdoor in the ceiling. Bracing myself, I undid the latch that held it in place. The door swung downwards, creaking loudly as it did so. Nothing else moved, so I grabbed hold of the ledge and hauled myself up.

Megualops and I found ourselves in a gigantic, spacious room. A mist covered the floor, and it was only after a lapse of fear I realized it was ordinary water vapor. On the far wall, I saw the great clock ticking, an echoing click every second. As I gazed, the clock ground to a halt, leaving a sudden silence. It felt like and omen of our own doom; our time was up.

The evil feeling was everywhere, so dominant I could practically smell it. Somewhere, I knew, the Daemonia was lurking, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And that meant that Keerast was here too.

I unclipped the crystal from my Pulsar and threw it onto the floor some 10 feet away. We waited. I heard something stir. The Daemonia had detected the Knarite. Megualops turned his head to the right. I did the same and saw a shadowy figure approach through the mist. I drew my Pulsar and aimed. Then I sighed in relief.

It was only Keerast. But she looked terrified. "What's wrong?" I asked, concerned greatly. She only gulped and pointed toward where the crystal lay. I turned. The crystal was clutched in the hand of the Daemonia. It stalked toward us. We readied our weapons. But something made me squint in suspicion. The creature was awfully small for a Daemonia... And there was something awfully familiar about its shape...

Then I gasped and Keerast squeaked and hid behind Megualops, who, for the first time since I'd known him, had his permanent grin twisted into a scowl. The figure who had the Knarite in his fist was Iapruseb.

-.-.-.-.-.

"I knew it," snarled Megualops, taloned fists clenching in anger. "I couldn't understand how, but I suspected him all along." I blinked in utter astonishment. "How?" I asked.

"Simple," Megualops replied, not taking his eyes off of the human. "The way he convieniently forgot to tell us about Gula's last ability until I nearly got myself killed. The way he convinced the priest, the only human who knew anything about the Daemonia, to walk into an ambush. The way he acted so cheerful after you defeated Invidia in order to mask his anger. The way he hypnotized the two Soleron we fought, turning their eyes green in the process. I could go on and on."

Then a memory exploded in my head. I saw myself rescuing the Knarite crystal from the burning building. I remembered how something inside me had wanted to save the crystal from destruction. Had Iapruseb psychically convinced me to save it so he could use it later?

Iapruseb spoke for the first time. "Very clever, Megualops," he said with grim amusement. "But luckily for me, your down-to-earth personality prevented you from revealing anything to your friends before you had solid proof, is that right?" I stopped and made a mental note that Megualops's practical manners would be our downfall.

"I needed the Knarite," Iapruseb continued. "But I couldn't snatch it for myself, not with you Captains patrolling the canyon. So I kidnapped Keerast and demanded a ransom." He looked at Keerast, who had recovered from her initial fear and was now glaring at him.

"You see," the human went on (or rather, the Daemonia did). "I needed time to absorb my Virtue's energy. I finished while you three were fighting the army of creatures I summoned as a distraction." His eyes now twinkled with malice. "And now, I have captured another Virtue by destroying one of the torches surrounding this very tower!"

Hearing this, I suddenly realized that Iapruseb was stalling in order to absorb more energy. I sprang, Lightning Sword in hand. Iapruseb barely dodged in time and blasted me with a purple-black beam of shadow energy. The pain was so intense I didn't even feel myself hit the floor.

The Daemonia laughed, long and loud. "Fool! Pure power and recklessness alone will not defeat me!" At this, Megualops raised his upgraded Plasma Pulsar and blasted the floor beneath Iapruseb, incinerating it. Iapruseb jumped in time, altered his body's density to steel, and swung his fist up in an uppercut. He caught Megualops on the chin and flung him up to the ceiling. I winced at the sickening crunch that occured. Megualops then fell right on top of Keerast.

The battle had begun. Megualops, Keerast, and I were everywhere. Pulses, missiles, hornets, and cold waves flew in all directions. Iapruseb fought back with a terrible vengeance, beating us down with iron fists, shadow blasts, ice beams, and cyclones. Every time we struck him, he'd strike us back tiwce as hard. One time, Megualops activated his Flight Pack and roared around the room, peppering Iapruseb with Pulses. After a minute of this abuse, the Daemonia blasted him out of the air with a tornado. When Megualops hit the floor, his Flight Pack exploded.

Finally, the duel ground to a halt. The three of us were still standing, but utterly exhausted. Iapruseb looked the same, but we all knew that his true power had yet to show itself.

"You've fought well," he murmured. "But sadly, you aren't going to survive this next fight..." His body started to glow yellow, the began to change...

-.-.-.-.-.

A corwd had gathered beneath the clock tower. A crescent moon was high in the sky. They watched as we battled inside. They heard bursts of energy and loud explosions. For a few moments, everything stopped. The villagers wondered if the Captains, who had rid their village of six deadly foes, had triumphed once more.

Then a blinding flash of light struck, emanating from the top of the tower. The villagers shielded their eyes. The coming battle would be nothing like they could ever imagine.

-.-.-.-.-.

**Awesome twist, am I right? Sadly, I can't claim any credit for it, but oh well.**

**I'll leave you with one of my cliffhangers, and we'll see how long the next chapter takes to upload! See you then!**

**TRIVIA: Superbia, leader of the Septem Daemonia - /sporepedia#qry=usr-Gengar114%7C500405245770%3Asast-500738348230%3 Apg-460 (Once again, type www. spore. com at the beginning and you should be able to view it.)**


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